Made in Germany

Slough off whatever spurious, borderline-offensive image you have of Teutonic style — it probably involves lederhosen or jackboots — by cracking open “German Fashion Design” (Distanz, $68), a half-century survey of one of the more easily overlooked fashion scenes in Europe. The dual-language book dutifully catalogs German fashion contributions in the realms of ski wear (Bogner), exquisitely cut office wear (Jil Sander) and great cheekbones (Claudia Schiffer). It begins in the late 1940s, when the German clothing industry, like much of the country, was still devastated by World War II. (It didn’t help matters that the prewar German clothiers were mostly Jewish; the ones who survived emigrated to Seventh Avenue or thereabouts.) Meanwhile, a few visionaries like Heinz Oestergaard and Uli Richter dared to trade the apron dresses and tied-up head scarves worn by Berlin’s so-called “rubble women” for a more relaxed twist on Gallic chic. Ostergaard was eventually stymied by the Berlin Wall, but Richter, whose 1959 fashions are pictured above, flourished in West Germany. His clothes were sold in Bloomingdale’s, and he became the first of many German designers to appear in French Vogue.


Beijing LOTOYO Cloth Industry
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