Bernhard Willhelm’s show was set to a riotous mix tape called “Malibu 1992” by Italian DJs Dorian and Death in Plains – a trashy 90s club mix matched with a bizarre, oftentimes nonsensical video claiming to be a movie and soundtrack of the end of the world.

Willhelm and his design partner-in-crime Jutta Kraus showed ripped and paint-splattered twill overalls and bomber jackets that were at times emblazoned with the word TRANSIT and a screenprinted bridge symbol. A violent orange poncho was shredded into fringes, and flimsy feather boas circled through the window-pane holes in acid-washed denims. An often top-heavy silhouette mixed the designer’s love of gymwear (think leggings and pleather short shorts) with flannelette shirting and uniform styles that were more workshop than workout. Still ever-present were the intricate, zany graphic knitwear pieces that have become Bernhard’s signature, with wave patterns and bold industrial stripes.

Photography by Reto Schmid

Bernhard Willhelm and Jutta Kraus have always had a flair for showmanship – a trait they have developed in leaps and bounds with their Bernhard Willhelm collections over the past decade. Their collections are pumped to bursting point with riotous colour and print, with abstract references that delve deep into European and American pop culture – be it music, TV, film, graphic design or even politics.

For Spring Summer 2012, the pair opted for a rather hands-on performance installation – employing a delicious array of flavourful props for the models to go ‘hands-on’. Think beers, squirting sauces, PVC umbrellas and more. Swiss photographer Reto Schmid captured moments from the performance exclusively for A.

Photography by Reto Schmid.

As one of the fashion industry’s rare ‘Peter Pan’ types, NºB’s Bernhard Willhelm (above) continues to spill forth his anarchistic cultural dialogue through fashion – melding pop culture with politics and sex with psychadelics – always served with a healthy dose of humour, boundless energy and eternal youth.

Bernhard’s particular brand of streetwear isn’t for the faint-hearted: his designs fuse sporty shapes (think racerback singlets, leggings, t-shirts) with the unruly deconstruction of wrap dresses and tunic tops. For Fall Winter 2011, both his mens and womens offerings have proved as zany as ever, as we found out upon closer inspection in the TOTEM showroom last month.

Prints and patches were the order of the day – with comic slogans emblazoned across cotton flags (hanging from t-shirts and handkerchief dresses), and a ripped magazine print of eyes or lips adorning jumpsuits and a quilted skirt suit. In the menswear, a particular standout was the paint-smeared ‘POLIZEI’ tee shirt and a collaboration with Berlin-based Mykita eyewear – in the form of mirrored aviators shouting ‘NO LIMITS!’ and ‘SHOULDER MOLDER’.

To get up close and personal with Bernhard’s latest collection, check out our gallery below!

Above: one of Bernhard Willhelm’s punchy slogan patches for FW11-12.

Above: Mykita X Bernhard Willhelm FW11-12.

To check the FW11-12 lookbook images, click here.

To flip through NºB featuring Bernhard Willhelm, click here.

SAVE THE DATE //

Opening on November 12th, 2010 from 7pm at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture.
Exhibition from November 13th – December 5th, 2010.

Dysfashional exhibition featuring commissioned artistic works by-

Hussein Chalayan
Bernhard Willhelm
Raf Simons
Maison Martin Margiela
BLESS
Antonio Marras
Marc Turlan
item idem

new works by David Koma & Gaspard Yurkievich

Read about the Berlin edition here

www.garageccc.com

Not one to bow to traditional forms of expression, Hussein Chalayan decided against a traditional ‘fashion story’ for NºC, opting rather to portray the Fall Winter 2002-03 garments of other designers with his own illustrations. Foregoing picture-perfect models, Hussein chose his own editorial team from the magazine to wear the garments, and sketched them in various poses and perspectives in the collections of Viktor & Rolf, Balenciaga, Maison Martin Margiela, Bernhard Willhelm and more.

His drawings are rapid and lively, with focus and colour concentrated on the more explicit details and textures, with bodily forms and blocks of fabric rendered insignificant. Each team member (from the editor to the art director) feature in at least one outfit, though their true likeness remains abstract – hidden behind the faint drawings that capture only the definition of a strong brow, the grip of a steady gaze or the coiling tendrils of a long mane.

Above: Gerdi Esch wears Sophia Kokosalaki

Above: Annika McVeigh wears Junya Watanabe

Above: Ellen Monstrey wears Viktor & Rolf

Above: Ellen Monstrey wears Helmut Lang

Above: Gerdi Esch wears Bernhard Willhelm

Above: Paul Boudens wears vintage Comme Des Garçons, Maison Martin Margiela

After it’s debut appearance in Paris earlier this year, the latest installment of the DYSFASHIONAL exhibition has moved to Berlin, taking residence in the magnificent Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Designed by Hugh Stubbins Jr. in 1957, the arc-shaped building rises up over a mirror-still reflection pond, situated on the edge of the river in the Tiergarten park – a picturesque setting for this rather dark and unconventional exhibition that takes a look at the world of fashion from its avantgarde underbelly.

Originally presented by mosign in Luxembourg in 2007 and Lausanne in 2008, Dysfashional stands for a discord and disfunction in the fashion system, and aims to identify and celebrate the artists and designers who mould fashion into a veritable expressive medium – free from the blatant commercial aims and constraints that plague the industry. The current edition takes pieces from the original Dysfashional exhibition and adds new works from creators such as Item Idem, Marc Turlan and Bernhard Willhelm.

Inside the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, a cavernous dark space hosts the artworks – some existing within their own constructions and others hanging or suspended within the space. Tackling the hybrid retail/exhibition concept of the curators, BLESS has created a pop-up shop to sell their quirky products – with books, sunglasses, t-shirts and their signature decorated electricity cords “cable jewellery”. The Maison Martin Margiela also offered an impressive installation, with three simulated rooms plastered with stickers from their ‘trompe l’oeil’ home series – 2D graphics of baroque wall decorations, tiled floors, fireplaces and corridors all rendered in shades of dirty white.

Other collaborators sought to demonstrate less their “artistic retail” side, for a more pure expression of art through fashion. For his trademark “softporn” aesthetic, German designer Bernhard Willhelm (in collaboration with Christophe Hamaide-Pierson) invaded an entire wall of the room with a collage of Vogue magazine covers, each one violated by a man’s decorated phallus poking through the pages. NY-based French pop artist Cyril Duval (under the collective moniker Item Idem) produced a “digital postcard” of illuminated laser-etched glass, featuring the heads of fashion’s most famous faces in a 21st century interpretation of Mount Rushmore. The name? Mount Blushmore.

More traditional pieces include Raf Simons‘ Repeat installation from his 2005 Pitti Immagine event in Florence, consisting of a line of twenty cathode ray television projecting images from his collections and shows from 1995 – 2005. Antonio Marras’ Le Orfanelle evokes both elongated hanging skirts and glowing tents, as an abstract realisation of the designer’s delicate artisanal techniques coupled with a new spatial element.

Some exhibitors chose to explore greater sensual elements than just pure visual aesthetics, like Hussein Chalayan who offered his confronting 2004 film Anaesthetics, dealing with the supression of sensitivity, considering human rituals as a numbing control process. Norweigan scent-artist Sissel Tolaas recreated the smells of New York, Paris, London and Berlin in four interactive map towers, allowing the audience to experience the heady odours of each city at the press of a button.

The broad span of experiences embedded in Dysfashional are proof of the rich layers that still exist within fashion – a creative field so often pinpointed as superficial and shallow. Though this exhibition that fell under the radar of many, the formidable selection of international creative talents (and their contributions that stretch the boundaries of their craft)  is a reminder of the continuing relevance of fashion as a conceptual medium for communication and expression in our postmodern age.

Above: An aerial view of Dysfashional in the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin

Above: BLESS @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Maison Martin Margiela @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Bernhard Willhelm @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Raf Simons @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Raf Simons @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Antonio Marras @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Hussein Chalayan @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Hussein Chalayan @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Sissel Tolaas @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Above: Sissel Tolaas @ Dysfashional, Berlin

Bernhard Willhelm was invited to curate NºB magazine in 2001, as the second issue of a series conceived by Walter Van Beirendonck for the six fashion statements of the Landed Geland fashion festival in Antwerp. Nearly ten years later we caught up with him in Paris after his Spring Summer 2011 menswear show, to chat about his experiences with NºB, his current take on media and how much things can really change in a decade. Candid, brutally honest and with more than a hint of cynicism, Bernhard offers a glimpse of his own wandering spirit, and presents the very real condition of independent designers working today.

A MAGAZINE: What was it like to be invited to make NºB?
Bernhard Willhelm: My problem with Antwerp was a little bit that also at school nothing ever changed, its just always the same people giving each other jobs, and so I said I’m doing this B magazine only when I could work with my own graphic designer. It was a bit the idea of this magazine, I said OK lets do it. And with Ludivine (Billaud) I worked a long time, though now at the moment I don’t work with her. I always change, I don’t want to work with the same people.

A: There are a lot of people in the magazine who you have had in the team, and who have left…
BW: Yeah but I wouldn’t do the magazine like it is now. I would really do something completely different I think.

A: It’s a different time, it’s a different digital age..
BW: It’s completely not my thing anymore, not at the moment. I mean I haven’t looked at this magazine for years. What I still liked is that it was about fashion, photography also poetry kind of things. So I don’t know if I would not cut too many edges, if I would do something now I would really just go in one direction. Only that. We don’t need so much information, and also I think what’s in my head at the moment is that we have too much information. It’s too much and we’d rather have a little bit less of some things. Also I realise now after ten years of being a designer that you cannot make everybody happy. It’s fine not to. Not to be too obvious, and satisfy all the needs. So yeah, lets see..

A: Do you ever go back to Antwerp?
BW: I go sometimes. I also like to go to Amsterdam.

A: What do you like about Antwerp?
BW: Ah, the bookshops. I always go to Tuf Tuf, because they have a little second-hand porn corner which I like. And the people there know me so they always keep things for me.
And Amsterdam too, I like for shopping. I like the flea markets, I always find good stuff.

A: What do you like to collect?
BW: Now it is mostly more like magazines and books and clothes a little bit. And whatever falls in your hand. But I am not really buying second-hand clothes at the moment. I am inspired enough. I don’t need old clothes to copy, you know, I’m not Marc Jacobs…

A: Who that you worked with on NºB are still a part of your life? People like Wolfgang Tillmans?
BW: They became more like friends, I mean he is really busy Wolfgang, he doesn’t want to work so much anymore – he does his exhibitions and that’s it.

A: Say we invited you to make a magazine today, who would you work with almost ten years later?
BW: I don’t know, I wouldn’t work with people to do things. I would just collect things from the internet. It’s there. It’s out there you just have to find it, you know. There have been so many magazines, so much information that I don’t know who needs these magazines. Just put it online and that’s it.

A: Well, that is our concept for the archives now, and we are writing about the contents of the issues, explaining a bit of who’s who in the past. One of the interesting parts of NºB is the cooking with all the different people…
BW: Yeah I even stopped cooking.

A: Why did you stop cooking?
BW: Because I got tired of it. Nothing really is for ever. There are sometimes things you have to change in order to miss it again later. And also in Paris, I don’t have an oven…

(Bernhard offers a macaroon)

A: What keeps you going if it isn’t cooking, isn’t producing images. Is it the fashion itself?
BW: No at the moment I am more into teaching. I am teaching now in Vienna. I am doing a few projects like bands, like Bjork and Scissor Sisters, these kind of things. We are working on our own website, we never had a website before. It’s a lot of work and money so maybe yeah also selling online.

A: Can you tell us more about the school?
BW: The course goes four years plus a diploma, so it’s quite a long course actually. And you are always very personally involved with your students – their mother dies, then the other one goes to the psychiatrist, then the other one has a drug problem…
There is always some problem, there is a lot of talking. You have to be there from the morning until ten o’clock at night.

A: Is school finished for the semester?
BW: Yes that is finished. We had to show two weeks ago and it was a good show so I am in a good mood. Then five days later we did our show, but not many people saw the show

A: How is Vienna as a fashion city?
BW: I was always a fan of Wendy & Jim and Fabrics Interseason. I like them, and I like what they are doing. There is a little scene in Vienna.

A: Does the city itself influence a certain style?
BW: You have the classic Vienna, you have the student Vienna. There are some nice shops, we sell in two shops in Vienna. There is money, and there is a certain interest. There is a big art scene actually. Maybe come next time for the jury…

A: What was the concept behind the presentation for spring summer 11 in the Swedish Institute for Tranoï?
BW: It was actually more by using the gardens, so we had the idea with the foam and the smoke. It was an experiment on colour and on sexiness, and we made our collection out of it.

A: Where do you see yourself going now? Do you want to continue making collections?
BW: I don’t know for the moment. I need a holiday.

A BLOG featuring Bernhard Willhelm is proud to present this series of images originally published in TOKION Japan in October 2006. Curated by our friend and contributor Cyril Duval, photographed by Wataru (a frequent collaborator with UNDERCOVER’s Jun Takahashi) and featuring Také Hirakawa, this series is an ode to the wider ‘A World’, and the myriad of creative connections that exist within it. We also have an exclusive portrait of Cyril and Bernhard shot by Asa in 2006.

Read below as Cyril unravels the story behind the pictures.

“Back in the days, when I was running TOKION Japan (R.I.P), I introduced myself to fashion curation and invited my friends and collaborators Bernhard Willhelm & Jutta Kraus to invade this format for a ‘Bernhard by Bernhard’ special story. Thereby, it was treated in similar conceptual & aesthetic ways than the one we developed for the Bernhard Willhelm Tokyo flagship boutique.Today in collaboration with A Blog Curated By, we are very happy to exclusively republish those.”

Concept, styling and direction: Bernhard Willhelm & Jutta Kraus
Photography: Wataru (eightpeace)
Installation: Bernhard & Jutta, Asa & Cyril. special featuring by Take Hirakawa.

Curated by item idem. Edited & published by Cyril Duval in TOKION Magazine in october 2006.

Follow the coloured chalk lines and unravel Bernhard Willhelm’s colourful maze of friends and budding cooks, in this DIY spread in NºB. Posing 15 questions each to seven friends (even his mum), the article shines with intimate moments and an obscure window into each different personality, and what comforts them in the kitchen.

From world famous French chef Paul Bocuse to the local Antwerp fast-food restaurant manager, from avant-garde design duo BLESS to Bernhard’s own mum, the characters each proffered a recipe from their own expertise – be it as rudimentary as As Four’s 1,2,3,4 coffee-making steps, as luxurious as Monsieur Bocuse’s elaborate Pot au Feu, or  as traditional and wholesome as Rosemarie Willhelm’s traditional German cheese dumplings.

Ludivine Billaud’s softly colourful graphic interpretations of each recipe are accompanied by a few brief answers to the questionnaire, that support the nature of each entity. Whether it be the collective sterility of As Four and their caffeine issues, the conservative and routine perfection of Paul Bocuse, or the homeliness of Rosemarie Willhelm and Ann Demeulemeester’s husband Patrick Robyn in their respective cotton blouse and dressing gown, we glimpse a charming new side of each fashion and cultural entity.

Questionnaire
01. What do you wear when you are cooking?
02. Do you change clothes after preparing a meal?
03. Do you listen to music when you are cooking?
04. Do you use a cookery book?
05. Which dishes do you prepare and prefer?
06. Do you like desserts? Which ones?
07. Or do you prefer first courses?
08. Are you vegetarian? Why or why not?
09. Do you like to experiment in the kitchen?
10. Which garment do you associate with the dish you have chosen?
11. Do you drink a glass of wine or a glass of water when cooking?
12. What about setting the table? Is it important?
13. Do you eat in the kitchen or in the dining room?
14. Do you invite unexpected guests to share the meal?
15. For whom do you cook (friend, child, husband, family, yourself)?

Rosemarie Willhelm’s “Allgäur Käsespätzle”
01. When cooking I like to wear a tishirt or a cotton blouse, easy to wash.
And I always wear a cotton apron.

As Four “Coffee”
05. We As Four do not know. We are never cooking but we love music allllways.
06. No, we As Four have no kitchen.

Alix Browne‘s “Toast”
08. I’m a huge fan of desserts, especially tarte tatin with vanilla icecream – which I have enjoyed immensely in many restaurants but have never made myself. Veronique Branquinho has promised to come to New York and make a tarte tatin from scratch, but I’m still waiting!

Patrick Robyn’s “Breakfast”
02. My activities in the kitchen are restricted to preparing breakfast (in dressing gown), feed the dogs, make flower arrangements, clear and clean.
07. Bread and cheese of course.

Paul Bocuse’s “Pot au feu”
02. I wear a slip, shirt, black trousers, a cooks’ jacket and a traditional white apron.
(en effet, the same type of clothing since 1942.)

BLESS SauerkrautnudeIn
06. Our cooking is based on experiments and advice.
Emergency help by phone from our boyfriends/parents occurs.
08. All of them: the richer, the better.
09. On top of it.

Dave Vanderveken (manager of Quick, fastfood restaurant in Antwerp)
Wokked fried chicken with fruit.
06. I prefer a dessert and my favourite is banana split with hot chocolate.

For Bernhard Willhelm’s NºB, seven friends answered fifteen questions about cooking. From Ann Demeulemeester’s photographer husband Patrick Robyn to Bernhard’s own mother and the design duo of BLESS, the seven chosen represented a diverse bunch (in both age, origin and ‘style’). Within the questionnaire, each personality was asked to choose one recipe, that was then illustrated by Ludivine Billaud (in part one of Cooking). For the tenth question, Bernhard asked them each “Which garment do you associate with the dish you have chosen?”.
After choosing these items, Dutch still life photographer Maurice Scheltens took the pieces and transformed the editorial concept into this vibrant kitchen-inspired shoot, with surreal suspended objects and simple, tasty ingredients to match each person’s recipe and their garment. With cups floating in mid-air and dusted flour rings on benchtops, pasta shoes and a knife balancing on it’s point, the shoot is an exercise in Scheltens’ laboriously constructed sets (with wife Liesbeth Abbenes), and a rather kooky look into the more personal realm of Bernhard’s friends and their kitchen cupboards…

Above: As Four: 10. A garment by As Four.

Rosemarie Willhelm; 10. A sweatshirt by Bernhard Willhelm.

Alix Browne: 10. A dress by Veronique Branquinho.

Paul Bocuse: 10. A dress by Dirk Van Saene

Patrick Robyn: 10. Trousers by Ann Demeulemeester.

BLESS: 10. A handbag by BLESS.

Dave Vanderveken: 10. Trousers by aestheticterrorists® by Walter Van Beirendonck