Designer Katrin Diedrich’s latest contribution for the A/W 14/15 Ethel Vaughn collection is a highly distinctive and eye capturing ensemble. Featuring monochromatic garments in stark black and white, it is well suited to the harsh Berlin winters and will truly stand out against a pallid backdrop of grey overcast skies.
It is a distinctly avant-garde collection, featuring 60s inspired extrovert prints and graphics stemming from her ongoing collaboration with artist Axel Peemöller. Yet there is a mix between elegance and grunge, combining sharp lines and structured garments with more relaxed sportswear, creating an interesting hybrid collection.
Material is key to her latest collection, incorporating numerous different tactile textures from sweatpant material, neoprene, to transparent rainwear. It is a collection built on numerous different influences, with many different facets.
Whilst she maintains a distinctly functional and wearable aspect to her clothes, the collection is equally conceptual. With the use of eccentric pattern and graphic design, she adds an element of irony and comedy to her collection. Equally, there are strong references to 90s fashion, and at times, it appears to be an inversion or reworking of numerous faux pas that appeared in this divisive decade—most noticeably, through crop top sweatshirts, low cut sweatpants with Adidas inspired side bands, and underwear coming over the top of the trousers. It is this mix of 90s street culture with a more elegant and structured facet, which makes this collection particularly interesting.
