Under the brand name with the loud name "Wunderkind", the legendary German designer Wolfgang Joop combines extravagance and feminine silhouettes, creating a unique, sophisticated style.
The name of Wolfgang Joop is on a par with such successful and internationally recognized German fashion designers as Karl Lagerfeld and Jill Sander.
Brand founder JOOP! andWunderkind, artist, illustrator, art collector and writer was born in 1944 in Potsdam (Germany).
His career in fashion began in1970 the year Joop won the magazine’s fashion competition Constanze.
AT 1978 year, the young designer enters the international arena, presenting the first fur collection, for which the T editionhe new york times awarded him the honorary title "Prussian Designer".
AT 1980 year, in the wake of increasing interest in design in Germany, Joop creates a lifestyle label JOOP!.
And 23 years later, a brand was born WunderkindThanks to which Wolfgang Joop ascended to the top of the world fashion Olympus. Impeccable cuts, luxurious fabrics, prints resembling paintings, and hand-made finishes: models fromWunderkind - works of art of high, refined style.
Model 134 from Burda Magazine 08/2013 - Dress by Wolfgang Joop
Mr. Yoop, what does the concept of "style" mean to you?
Style is the courage to know oneself. You can underestimate or overestimate yourself, you can copy or quote someone, you can be disappointed, change, do "as if". In fact, style is what remains when fashion passes. That which you own, recognizing all your shortcomings. They say about such people - "they have a style in blood."
What does the Wunderkind brand have, what the JOOP did not have ?!
Mark JOOP! appeared in the 80s when interest in design aroused in Germany. We offered luxury at affordable prices: perfumes, designer jeans, women's and men's clothing, underwear, accessories and much more, including furniture. Our motto was: design in everyday life is a cool style.
Wunderkind for 10 years of its existence, each season offers stunning, spectacular and unexpected collections. Each collection is part of my biography. Each collection is electrified by the past, elegant and romantic, but most importantly - it is not subject to momentary fashion trends. The buyer likes her models the more, the longer he uses them. They become one with their owner.
Are you trying to tell a story in each collection?
Already when creating sketches, when choosing materials, my own story begins, which I then give my name to and continue the story on a specific topic. And art is a means on a living person, on canvas or on a screen to present your vision of the world.
The clearer my story is, the easier it will be for the world to understand.
Is creating a new collection more fun or stressful?
To make a new collection that would meet the demands of the market and, first of all, be distinguished by new images and style, and also fulfill the wishes of the audience, which they had not even guessed before, it takes a lot of work hands, strong nerves and a considerable budget. After all, a collection is more than a few dresses. True, the fact that viewers, along with the author, enjoy the created beauty, pays for all the most severe stresses.
What distinguishes the classics?
When it comes to classics, it does not matter who created the first skirt, first corsage or first jeans. What matters is who remains in history and whose style characterizes a particular era.
In the 20th century, these were Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Ossi Clark, Christian Dior, Mary Quant, Ray Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto. They made us look differently at a phenomenon like fashion.
What inspires you?
Perhaps this will sound strange, but when you have the "old man's eyes" and a young heart, you especially feel the pulse of time. And this dictates to me more and more variations of my style.
After you create a sketch, do you (automatically) immediately select fabrics and colors for it?
No, this is an interconnected process. Certain fabrics require certain silhouettes and patterns or processing. How the fabric falls, what color of the fabric can also determine the style of the model. This is the mutual influence of various elements, as well as contradictions and contrasts, which, in fact, makes the collection especially attractive.
What fabric would you call your dream?
Thanks to modern technology, classic fabrics such as wool, cotton, silk and rayon are constantly adding ever new materials with excellent qualities. The mobility of modern man and his ever deeper knowledge of his own body require constant replenishment of new tactilely pleasant products. It seems to me that these days the "future" begins, and soon we will stop wearing harmful "chemistry" on our bodies.
Many prints on your fabrics resemble classical painting ...
By my education I am an artist and sculptor. During my studies, I discovered a lot of styles, and I liked to compare them, “play” with them, make contrasts out of them. Naturalistic and hypervirtual. Strict graphics and floral motifs. In my heart, I remained an artist, but along with the doctrine of paints and color, I also became a connoisseur of female anatomy.
Will it be possible to invent some other new cut, or is the repertoire exhausted?
Madeleine Vionne in the 20s invented a cut along the oblique, which gave the androgenic type of women completely new silhouette lines. New styles always require a new cut, but the human body always remains the foundation. In contrast to the assertion that "everything is repeated," in the new style, the shape and pattern, repeating themselves, look completely different.
When is the pattern ready for the collection?
Every day I ask myself whether the product that I am going to create will have and enhance the emotional and rational component of the human worldview. Ready-made dress according to the new pattern should impress me with its perfect technique of execution and evoke memories of pleasant people for whom I try.
Your collection has many traditional hand-made details ...
The best design is a mixture of tradition and fantasy. Demand is that in our modern world is becoming increasingly rare - handmade, good taste, tradition and stability. Even among a very young generation.
And you, too, sometimes stand in front of a closet filled with clothes and say: “Damn, I have absolutely nothing to wear!”
Everyday! And usually in such cases, I choose the shades of the sea.
Photo: Dirk Bader (1); Werner Reichel (1); catwalkpix.com (2); PR (3). Interview: Mark Kuntz.
The material was prepared by Elena Karpova.
