Around the World in 80 Dresses

Leather and soft elegant grey. I didn’t think that could match until I found the suit  made of supple velvety leather. Grey on grey or less formal yellow wool on grey from Thierry Mugler . Leather is most versatile. Gone are the coat and the jacket of the quatres pièces by Evelin Brandt . It was too much of the same. The pants and west look better with the less formal cordury jacket in a different colour.  Evelin Brandt used to be in West Berlin at the times when the city was divided. Like many others she succeded in implanting her label in the reunified city in West and East.                                                                                                  Berlin has a long tradition of garment manufacturers...

I have a hidden penchant for black lace, but neither am I Spanish nor is a fiesta or a corso of Andalusian horses in sight, although I bought the little black dress in Sevilla.  Tone it down, tone it down . I won’t forget this advice from my seamstress, niece of a Berlin couturier well known in the times when the Durchreise was The German fashion event. The lace and a mud coloured bomber jacket with zips become bedfellows, unlikely but working nicely.  

No better way to combine an evening dress made of vintage duchesse with rose applications from the now defunct Berlin Haute Couture label Schwichtenberg with a plushy tightly fitting spencer from a street market in Shanghai's cavernous underground. Berlin-Friedrichstrasse meets Shanghai Metro. After I had succeeded in crossing the murderous traffic on the street leading to my subway station without being run over I dived into the never ending underground shopping lanes. Sheer bliss! Fortune readers rubbed shoulders with high fashion and with mouth watering delicacies.  The old fashioned Schwichtenberg bolero is getting a new life with jeans and a slightly crumpled shirt.

Her Jewish family emigrated from pre-war Germany to South Africa where she became one of the best known painters of her time. The elegant lady with the flower bouquet on Irma Stern’s aquarelle reminds me of my mother’s Berlin youth when all the office girls wore gloves and every season a new hat. In our more casual times you have to dress up to match. I chose powdery pink accessories and a light grey tulle skirt from Naf Naf , France to be on par with Irma’s lady. © Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town irmastern . co.za Irma Stern was one of the first artists from South Africa to travel to other African countries. Her portraits of African women and Middle Eastern merchants made her famous.  © Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town   irmastern . co.za