During christmas I found this old blanket on my parents attic. It is a usual blanket of which we had several. This particular blanket however ended up covering boxes. I got inspired by its old charme and the typical constructed checked pattern. Out of curiosity I started to rework it into something else, which turned into the project ›CUT‹.

Julia considers fashion design as a constantly evolving language which involves ever-renewed
forms of creative thinking. It is an intellectual and technical journey consisting in, as she puts it, “taming material”, which one is to use “in a good/new way”.

Julia has long been fascinated by the double process of designing and making. She studied design
at Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, from which she graduated in 2008. She then trained under
the supervision of various artisans and in the fashion industry (Viktor & Rolf in Amsterdam,
Balenciaga in Paris).

Julia’s personal work draws inspiration from the making processes which she likes to observe in factories. From Istanbul to Paris, her inquisitive mind has led her to explore different environments in which she happily immersed herself, familiarising with new materials and techniques in the process. Through direct observation, conversations with craftsmen, on-site photography and visual research on the web, Julia keeps accumulating impressions and visual references which feed into
her work. This ongoing apprenticeship is the way she restlessly stretches her own skills and improves
her craftsmanship, thus enriching her vision and practice of fashion design.

Spotted by DM+ for her talent as a designer-maker, Julia was invited to take part in their first show in June 2010. Since she was keen to work on a leather-based project, DM+ introduced Julia to
Yann Mazé, founder of Carium, specialised in bespoke car interiors. The initial idea was for Julia to use leather offcuts, but the collaborative exchange between DM+, Julia and Carium soon turned into
a more integrated project: SCS Sellerie Cuir Standing Division Exception hosted Julia in their workshop, and a fantastic collection of shoes inspired from car design ensued.

 Blandine Chambost, DM+ Designer-Makers and more

Links: DM+, Carium

Inspired by the body building scene I designed the collection ›On Season‹. For some of my designs I mimicked the physique of bodybuilders to use them later as a basis to design fabric.
While doing research, I noticed several similarities between fashion and bodybuilding. ‘Off Season’ is called the period when bodybuilders work out for muscle gain. In ‘On Season’ or ‘Cutting’, the athletes change their body shape during a 3-4 month period by keeping a strict diet and embarking on grue-ling training sessions. The perfect competitive body shape is only sustainable for a short period and has to be re-sculpted every season. The quick transformation from a fat to a hard-muscled body form has been an inspiration for my designs.
Seeing the bodybuilder posing on stage reminded me of viewing statues. I transferred the idea of keeping motionless in a certain position to clothes: sleeves or trouser legs that are rolled up, shirts
that may be un-tucked or tucked into the pants. That passing moment when cloth is held in a certain position for a reason was what I wanted to make last in my designs.
How precisely and accurately bodybuilders deal with their body is shown by one athlete’s food diary. For ten years he documented every single gram he’d eaten right down to an exact date and time.
I took an extract of that diary to use as a print for one ensemble. A jacket’s cut equates to the body measurements of the diary’s author as an attempt to interpret the shape and substance of his body measurements. For the photo shoot I searched for models who are in good physical shape but without the muscular extremities of bodybuilders. In dressing them in cloth cut to the bodybuilders form, the tensions between the volumnous cloth and the more lean bodies creates an illusion of a more muscular silhouette.
In both cases the model presents a non-lasting situation: fashion as well as the bodyshape in bodybuilding demand an improvement every single time they go ›On Season‹.

Photography: Cosima Hanebeck, Jørgen Kube

Inspired by historical photographs of the Turkish military, I produced a shoe collection in Istanbul.
The acrobatic formations of the soldiers often symbolized star and half-moon shapes and were shown at military parades. For the collection ›Souvenirs d´Istanbul‹ I made 9 shoe designs, which I produced in different leather types and colour combinations.

Photography: Cosima Hanebeck