Don’t ignore the classmates!

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The year 2006 when Christopher Kane graduated from Central St. Martins MA was a particularly good one giving us a crop of designers to look out for.  Since then, of course we all know what has happened to Christopher Kane but I have been eager to see what the likes of Lisa Pritchard or Molly Grad has been up to and thus far, nothing has surfaced to my knowledge.  However, after closer investigation, Marcel Ostertag, who graduated with a first prize for his menswear collection at CSM in the same year as Kane, has gone onto great things.  Things that I hadn’t a clue about which just goes to show how insular conceptions of fashion can be, so lesson one would be to get out of the London-bubble.  For a start, Ostertag has now gone onto womenswear.  Lesson two, pay more bloody attention to menswear in the first place (I have a few choice words to say about the menswear shows AW08-9 shows which have just about ended…).  He also shows regularly at Berlin Fashion Week and now has two stores to his name, one in Vienna and one in Munich, an achievement that London-based designers would struggle to achieve given how hard it is to keep the finances in order.  Lesson three, pay more attention to ALL the fashion weeks. 

Marcel started off by fusing masculine and feminine within his menswear collections and so he has done the same thing with his womenswear.  Crisp and clean is a good description of his style but those two words seem all too simplistic for the actual results.  He seems to have exacted the science of colour, fabric and pattern choice and then applied his sharp tailoring to those choices to get a collection that is both impactful and understated at the same time.  The recognisable and classical features of trench and shirts are there but moulded to suit Ostertag’s needs and way of cutting.   

Berlin Fashion Week escaped me what with my manic runup towards my New York trip but I shall make it there to explore what I have stupidly ignored.   

14 comments

  1. i never seem to hear about fashion weeks such as Berlin’s.Ostertag’s clothes are gorgeous- especially the red jacket!!!
    xxx

  3. don’t be too hard to yourself (“stupidly ignored” ;))- it’s only the second berlin fashion week next week… but it seems to be growing fast! we’ll be there, are you coming?
    <3 jessie

  6. I really love the attention to detail on the first two jackets. The harem-like pants remind me of the black best behavior ones, just up a notch in terms of extravagance b.c they shine.

  7. 🙂 I’m loving the cut of the second jacket. Very feminine but still out going. And the red trench-style coat. And can I just say that I love the patent black chunky heels that the model is wearing in the first few pics?
    <3

  9. I also keep reminding myself to look more at mens shows. Some of the designs are really creative and interesting.

  10. oh you should come! berlin fashion week gets better every year and i’d love to finally read a review from you. 🙂

  12. i wonder why he studies men’s wear to begin with? he didnt study BA at CSM right?
    im avoiding BA women’s wear at CSM because of the inflation and the tension between the classmates.
    i like his clean, sharp and posh but slightly slouchy style. seems very fresh and light.
    men’s wear really is getting better and better, especially some very good younger, less known designers. Ute Ploier’s men’s wear for f/w 08/09 was well done, though people say it’s like raf simons, but she’s just started not too long ago so there’s room for improvement. Damir Doma f/w 08/09 was good too, everything flowed nicely and interesting details.
    im planning to go on studying men’s wear at csm this fall

  13. Nice…I like the slouchiness. Pity we end up not knowing much more than what the fashion mags choose to tell us, though.

  14. Wow… that short trench with the draping collars is amazing! major lemming… now i’m upset considering i doubt that these goodies would be available (for oogling at if not for purchase) in Australia.

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