New Leather Fashion Collection From Germany

By Margarita Nahapetyan

Daniel Rodan, German leather fashion designer that dresses celebrities all across the world, unveiled a new collection of Berlin Wall art-themed clothing earlier this week, as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the fall of the Cold War barrier. Even twenty years after the fall of the world's famous wall, some of its murals are still an inspiration for a different sort of art.

Colorful images and designs from the East Side Gallery - a surviving stretch of the 1,300 meter-long wall that 118 artists from 21 countries have been decorating with colorful paintings after the 1989 opening of the border - have been transferred onto leather items and are the inspiration for the evening gowns, trench coats, T-shirts, jackets and menswear fashion collection, which carries a name Mauerkleider, or "Wall Clothes."

One of the pieces from the designer collection includes revealing mini-dress that shows a famous image of the "Trabi", the classic East German automobile, that breaks through the concrete landmark which served as a border between east and west parts of Germany during the Cold War. Among some other new items presented by Rodan, was featured barbed wire made of leather as a sexy fashion accessory.

One of the wall parts, carrying the image of the fraternal kiss between former East German leader Erich Honecker and a former leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, is featured on the bodice of a mint-green mini dress. "I tried to link the political and societal event of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall with the theme of fashion and art," Daniel Rodan explained.

The designer, whose clients include TV and singing star David Hasselhoff and singer Tina Turner, added that tackling a political subject was something new that he did: Combining together the three things, such as the political event, fashion design, and the art of the East Side Gallery, and then making sure that the items fit perfectly well the celebrities, was a real challenge, Rodan said during a news conference.

The leather outfits will be worn and demonstrated by German celebrities, famous musicians and athletes at events during the upcoming months, after what they will be sold at auction and the money will go to charity when the 20th anniversary celebrations are finished on November 9.

According to the Berlin cabaret performer Chin Meyer, it is great that there is now an opportunity to have fun with things which previously were simply a catastrophe. "We have to be artistically creative with things we find painful," the artist said.

Berlin's one-year-long celebration of the fall of the Wall in 1989 will culminate with a 'Festival of Freedom' at the Brandenburg Gate and the toppling of 1,000 giant dominoes.