FASH 2008 Attitude / 28. January 2008

Frauke Buschmeyer


3rd Prize
European Fashion Award FASH 2008

The Crocodiles Lie in the Gaps

The Master’s thesis collection “The Crocodiles Lie in the Gaps” is composed of favorite pieces for individualistic women between 20 and 40. They feel pleasant on the skin, and the person wearing it can build up an emotional, imaginative and affectionate relation to them. Favorite pieces are long-lasting, because they do not lose their originality after one season. The carefree perspective of childhood, when everyday matters are exciting, serves to achieve this goal. Four stories by a lion, crocodile, penguin and polar bears inspired the illustrations, cuts, colors and choice of material.
The work is also a search for a statement of one’s own between pronounced expressiveness and sensitive presentiments as well as the balance between the design wishes and emotional needs of the women wearing it.


Jury Statement Frauke Buschmeyer bets on avoidance of waste, the most effective way of protecting the environment. The way of implementing her project was worked out in an impressive manner. The starting point was the observation that people like to wear favorite pieces for many years. But how do you create favorite pieces? She selected strongly emotional motifs as inspiration: children and animals. The comparatively complex collection plays with the topic well throughout without placing it in the forefront too much. It remains a means to the end of creating desirable fashion. The collection has a very strong and new aesthetics; it is joyful and humorous, young and elegant. This is not superficial fashion, but instead self-confident design.
Frauke Buschmeyer obviously knows what she wants and how to do it. She has a great deal of design skill and can give identity to a brand. But not only her conceptual strengths and design skills should be praised, but also her craft skills in implementing new patterns. — Jury Member Joachim Schirrmacher, Creative Consultant, Hamburg

Education Graduate (Diplom)
Hochschule für Künste Bremen (University of the Arts Bremen)

Contact fraukebuschmeyer@gmail.com

FASH 2008 Attitude / 27. January 2008

Melanie Gros


1st Prize
European Fashion Award FASH 2008

For Square 

A square forms the basis of this fall women’s wear collection. Its objective is a cut without waste. Instead of adapting the pattern to the curved body, “For Square” drapes squares on the body. Approximately 20 percent of the cutting scrap is eliminated in this way. “For Square” provides favorite pieces, which can still be worn in 10 years. In spite of their potential long life, the silhouettes are based on current large-scale cuts that fall straight. The skin color black (dyed in line with the strictest directives) is classic, appropriate for the masses and chic. The fabrics are from “fair trade” and come from organic cultivation in Turkey. They vary between soft and warming single jerseys, robust twill and voluminous knitwear.


Jury Statement
About 20 percent waste is created during cutting despite the most modern technology. Melanie Gros solved this often-overlooked problem. Her concept of using rectangular materials to make clothes is very demanding in its realisation. This is all the more reason to praise both her aesthetically and functionally brilliant realisation of this idea. You do not even suspect that the clothes are made of rectangular pieces. And this is the case not just for one outfit, but also for the complete collection; even pants were produced. The work is so strong that it works for different occasions and with different colors.
Certainly: “Green is the new black”, because after all black is color that causes problems for the environment. In spite of this, Melanie Gros achieved a good balance between environment and reality. Black clothes have a higher rate of acceptance, are sold correspondingly well and are worn for a long time. The demanding task to design fashion in line with the needs of the environment and social issues using one’s one attitude was solved independently and simply. And this was done as a clear industrial design. This is an outstanding work, especially for a student in her fourth semester!
Jury Member Ulrike Okbay-Reichert, Head of Buying, Apparel, Otto, Hamburg

Education 4. Semester
Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin / University of Applied Sciences
Prof. Petra Skupin

Contact melly@teambruleberlin.de
www.teambruleberlin.de