Anticipation was high Wednesday afternoon outside HO Berlin for our favorite funereal design duo Augustin Teboul. Once inside, the models sheathed from head to toe in melancholic opulence carefully crafted from knits and leather, made it hard to believe this was a spring/summer collection—but then again, where would fashion be if it didn’t embrace those unorthodox surprises?
Each elegiac step, glance and pause from the models reminded us that Augustin Teboul are masters of muted drama. ”Holy Me” their SS14 collection, showed the design duo confidently poised at the center of this tension. The collection is at once austere and indulgent, demure and irreverent, and pensive yet dreamy. Its wit lies in the delicate balance between these opposing elements that materialized in webs of crocheted garments intricately adorned with jet stone drops, doleful head pieces, provocative fringes, and edgy beaded leather garments— all simultaneously concealing and revealing the sanctity of the feminine. And it was here, on an off-site location some distance from the Mercedes-Benz fashion tent, that the press and audience were treated to some real fashion romance—Berlin’s own religious sartorial experience.
