Julian Zigerli SS16
The ever-colourful Julian Zigerli is back for SS16, with a collection that vacillates between light and dark, cute and creepy. Showing in the Geschichtspark Moabit, in a “guerrilla” show, models strutted around the stone monuments that also served as audience seats. With each model holding their own soundtrack on a portable speaker, the result was a serene, quiet affair that ended with models (including “Breaking Bad”’s RJ Mitte) arranged geometrically among the trees, at one with nature. Birch tree patterns on short suits and glued-on-grass brought the theme of nature to the fore, while all-over cute illustrations on trousers and shirts showed Zigerli’s playful side. We spoke to the designer before the show about his love for Japan that inspired the collection, and why he wanted his models to crash a park for the show.
Julian Zigerli SS16
Tell us about the story behind the show
The story started last September when I went to Japan with a few friends of mine. We had a little event at a shop where I’m selling, but we also went to Okinawa, Kyoto, Mount Fuji, Tokyo, so we took our time to see Japan a bit. I’ve been there before and I’ve always got inspired by the country, but this time was a bit different because it was more intense. While I was there, I had an encounter with FOXY illustrations, a guy called Seitaro – and said “OK, let’s do this let’s make a new collection with this work!”
The collection is called White Rabbit, so it’s very cuddly and also very creepy, as if you’ve fallen through a rabbit hole and don’t really know where you’ve ended up! But it’s not Alice in Wonderland, it’s my own story.
Everything with the rabbit on is FOXY illustrations, which we did remotely, and then the ink prints we did in our studio by hand.
It seems like there’s a real light-dark narrative in the collection – how did that come about?
With the cute prints we also did the inverse – so we had this darker twisted world, really playing with both aspects. There are some parts that are really cute, but it’s detailed cute. We have faces on these three denim tops, you probably can’t see it straight away but check it again and you’ll see there are eyes, nose and mouth.
It was really important for us to make our own kind of cuteness and our own kind of language. In Japan everything has a face on it and I personally love everything about it, but I didn’t want to translate it 1:1.
Julian Zigerli SS16
You’re making a habit of collaborating with others on your collections, you’ve worked with Katharina Grosse, Daniel Pitout…
Well now, we have our backstage area at Katharina Grosse’s studio, so it worked out well!
When I work with someone, I’ll take their energy and their ability to do something and put my ideas in their head and create something new. Usually FOXY illustrations does cartoons, which we don’t have here.
How do you feel Berlin Fashion Week compares to other places you’ve shown?
We decided not to show in Milan this year and put more effort into our Berlin show because of the fact we can do something different here. It’s a much fresher way of doing things. The industry in Milan is very old – they have a very classical approach to doing shows, which is great. But I wanted to do something different and it was a bit difficult to do it there: here, I just have more options. What we’re doing tonight is very easy to do in Berlin, but nowhere else.
Julian Zigerli SS16
So, you still appreciate the underground?
It doesn’t even need to be underground: we’re using a park to make a beautiful show. It’s just that, well, we’re not really allowed to do it there! It’s a guerrilla show, but in a really beautiful way. We’re crashing the park and doing a little show there…
Is that what inspired this grass stuck to the models’ bodies for the show?
Actually, I just saw my friend walking through the grass with her wet shoes and it got stuck on all over it and I thought: “That’s perfect”. We’re going into a park, the models are walking over the grass and there’s a really natural vibe in the collection. There’s a print that’s like a birch tree and we have all the linen tissues and ink. The grass is a very effortless makeup, it doesn’t look forced, it’s very natural.
Julian Zigerli SS16
What’s next for Julian Zigerli?
I’m going back to Switzerland and really enjoying my time for a moment. We were presenting only a week ago in Paris and had a completely different presentation there. Doing two or three presentations a season, it’s hardcore, so I’m getting tired!
We just did a capsule collection for Zimmerli of Switzerland, which you can see at Seek at the moment – it’s called Zimmerli by Zigerli, so that’s a big step for us because this brand has been around for 150 years, and we’ve been going for 4 and a half. So 145 and a half to go!
Text by Josie Thaddeus-Johns
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