Let’s Twist Again 

For the new collection, BRACHMANN is partnering with the Mies van der Rohe House Berlin to design a capsule collection that takes inspiration from both a dress by Martha Lemke and the Mies van der Rohe house itself, both from the early 1930s. The collection wants to please and be worn by a Martha Lemke transposed into the present day. The capsule collection takes up the minimalist design of Martha Lemke’s famous white dress and enriches it with design principles and elements of the Mies van der Rohe House. The collection plays with spaces, levels and surfaces. The clear cuts follow architectural lines, geometric shapes and visual axes, which are emphasised by seams and pleats. The three-dimensionality of the human body is accentuated by the special emphasis on sides and rear view, just as the design focus of the Mies van der Rohe House is on the backside. The low back neckline of a dress is finished with a lapel collar that transforms into a scarf on the chest. The front lapel collar of a jumpsuit stretches over the shoulder and transforms into a scarf. The pleats of the Martha Lemke shirtdress begin at the front and descend step by step to the back, where the two outer pleats extend into the back and do not lie flat there, but stand up as a pleat at the side. The design also incorporates the flowing spaces of the Mies van der Rohe House into the collection, which translate into flowing fabrics and open silhouettes with diverse styling options. Layerings give the looks a three-dimensional impression. Like the Mies van der Rohe House, the collection plays with the distinction between inside and outside, which it transcends on one occasion with transparent fabrics, and on another occasion with layered fabric on collars that interpenetrate each other through incorporated openings, alternating in form between background and foreground, thus shifting the distinction between inside and outside depending on styling. The fabrics in the collection tap into the tension between the house’s smooth and brittle materials, ranging from a delicate transparency of light, flowing fabrics such as batiste and silk for shirt dresses, blouses and shirts to the solidity of structured fabrics such as linen, cotton and wool for skirts, jumpsuits, dresses, coats, trousers and suits. The colour palette of the collection reflects the white of the Martha Lemke dress, the blue-grey of the window framing and the reddish grey of the terrace, while the red spectrum of the bricks of the Mies von der Rohe House providing a warm counterpoint.

Photography by Rafael Poschmann
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