Berlin label Sopopular showed its eighth collection today but it’s only the second time that the rough yet stylish label is part of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Sleek gets a peek behind the scenes an hour before the show. The rails are full of studs, bomber jackets, baseball bats, black and jellyfish. What this has to do with Berlin, London and Marlon Brando we find out from Sopopular’s designer Daniel Blechman:
Your collections reflect insights that you gather in music, film and art. Where did you look to for this collection? The main attribute of the collection comes from the two most important cities in my life: Berlin where I grew up and London where I lived for six years. Berlin represents the industrial, military, roughness and grayness. London represents a certain cool, street vibe – SoPopular combines the two. This collection is called “The Wild One” and is inspired by all those late eighties and early nineties gang movies from “The Warriors” to “The Outsiders” to “Reservoir Dogs”. We made a mood board to all those movies and went from there. I looked to the animal kingdom for further ideas. I researched animals that move in packs and flocks and so I stumbled across the jellyfish. I find their structure completely fascinating. We created jellyfish graphics, which we printed on sweatshirts and T-shirts.
“The Wild One”, the movie starring Marlon Brando, is the core of the collection. That’s where the studs, leather and abundance of black come in. The presentation has some models carrying baseball bats – an element from The Warriors.
Jellyfish and gang members are an interesting combination as jellyfish seem so peaceful just floating about in the depths of the ocean….
They are very small and serene but some can be lethal and this is another element that drew me to them.
Jellyfish also play a role in the collection teaser video you released this week, which is absolutely beautiful…
Thank you. Those are real jellyfish. We went to the aquarium and filmed them floating around. During the look book shooting we filmed the models Daniel Bamdad and Norman Theuerkorn and then overlapped that footage with the jellyfish footage.
From what I can see hanging on the rails bomber jackets and elements of punk are still present this season?
We don’t completely change our collections each season. Of course we continue to move forward but we focus on perfecting those elements already in place. We want to improve what we do and we want to create classic garments that are, in my opinion, timeless. If people are spending a lot of money on clothes you want those clothes to be wearable beyond just one season.
What music can we expect during the show?
Music is so important to me. I grew up on Hip Hop but have distanced myself from it. I’m into electro, progressive and dub. The show will start with one of my favourite artists – Marilyn Manson. The song for the teaser video, which was produced just for the video by Blasmanjazz and Juanmaldito, will also feature during the show – it’s also called “The Wild One”.
Interview by Grashina Gabelmann