Felder Felder (Q3118)
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Felder Felder is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Felder Felder |
Felder Felder is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Appropriately held in a flashy, gilded Masonic hall,Felder Felder’s runway presentation was thronged by local semi-notables who long ago pledged allegiance to twins Daniela and Annette Felder’s brand of grungy raunch. Understand that for this show, the label’s hair sponsor was Tatiana Karelina, a company that makes clip-in hair extensions (made of “slimmer” all-Russian hair), and you’ll get the drift.Today’s collection played to this crowd, but with an underlying environmental message that was as barely there as many of the looks. Recycled plastic was used to make the mesh on a sheer jumpsuit, which opened the show. This same material was also used in parts of a gold-on-gold jacquard coat and for the panels on the shoulders of country shirt-skirts. And the interesting angular tiling that ran up, down, and across two organic cotton dresses—and one distinctly inorganic white net coat—was made of cut slivers of recycled CDs.“You know when you see some sustainable stuff and it is a little bit boring and hair-shirt?” said Daniela backstage. “Well, we wanted to go in that direction, but we wanted to do it in a confident way, sexy—really Felder Felder.”Lots of metallics, most notably a weave-effect golden jacquard flecked with scarlet, acted as molten counterpoint to high-slit chiffon skirts in black cotton and a tie-dyed, ocean-toned, half-harlequin print on a racer-back jumpsuit. Lucy Greene’s real-world London cool-girl casting—“They were reading books backstage!” marveled Daniela—plus the occasional endearing misstep on fit both added to a happy atmosphere of raucous sincerity.
19 February 2016
What if the Lisbon sisters—the five doomed girls at the center ofThe Virgin Suicides—had never killed themselves? Imagining an alternate, happier history for the Lisbons inspired the Spring collection of Felder Felder, the London-based brand designed by German identical twin sistersDanielaandAnnette Felder. In their version, the Lisbons party their way from Michigan to Miami and age disgracefully—think:The Golden Girlsgone wild. The oily blue in the metallic fabric of their first outfits, a sharply cut broad-lapel suit and follow-up dresses, shone sickly slick. Banana palm and flamingo prints, appliqués, and jacquards were scrambled and diffused as if squinted at through aging eyes.There was a potent dose of the staple Felder fare that their lushly blow-dried regulars had come to whoop for: floor-length underwear revealers, skater skirts with cutaways at the hip, crop tops aplenty, and a chiffon baby doll. Yet there was a pitch at maturity, too—this show was about the Lisbons growing up, after all—in a suite of Art Basel–appropriate cream looks in silk jersey, twisted only by the odd Lurex-piped panel or cry-for-help undone shirt. A tomato, pink, and white color-block aside was carefully conventional. And despite the artificial “whoa there!” clash of pink, apricot, and gold in their tropical jacquard, the fabric was used to hew restfully nipped dresses, pencils, and outerwear.Afterward, Annette Felder observed that this kind of harmonious dichotomy is something the designers do naturally: “It’s always hard and it’s always soft, and that comes from our being twins.” So who’s the hard sister and who’s the gentler one? “It changes!” both chimed in—to avoid being hard on each other.
18 September 2015
In late-1960s West Berlin, Uschi Obermaier was a profoundly hot, first-wave radical-feminist commune member and enthusiastic proponent of free love who devoured rock-and-roll alpha males like a big-game huntress with unlimited ammunition. As Daniela Felder, one half of the Felder Felder sibling design team, said after this Obermaier-homage show: "Half the time she was basically naked; it was all about the liberation of the woman. Back then it was a shock, women showing their bodies, but today less so." And that last sentence pointed to the conceptual misstep in this abundantly revealing collection, which went large on a series of transparent separates in sheer organza shot through with a fragile check of metallic green and blue, as well as the mini-est miniskirts London fashion week has seen since 2008-ish. For, evoking the spirit of boundary-pushing political permissiveness five decades on rings just a tad tinnily in an era of commodified, Photoshop-mediated exposure.Still, the nudity was perfectly fine, if spiritually anachronistic (although those sheer pieces will be lined in the showroom). When the clothes on the runway solidified enough to rank as such, they were often patterned in butterfly-dashed zebra stripes, either in laser-cut leather minis or printed on flowing double-slashed chiffon swirlers or racerback minidresses. Where the Felder sisters' reference to counterculture really advanced the argument was in the outerwear—oversize emerald and ruby furs and some Jimi Hendrix-touched afghans (Obermaier and Hendrix's morning-after moment lives gloriously on via YouTube). Those pieces, like almost everything else in the show, were made from nonanimal products; the Felders are committed vegans. Annette Felder said the only animal product on their runway was the human hair used in the models' Obermaier-esque artificial bangs, which took 14 hours for Schwarzkopf to color just so. Vegan permissiveness? That is something new.
20 February 2015
That old cliché about new motherhood getting the creative juices flowing may have some truth to it. Designer Annette Felder has recently given birth, and whether by coincidence or not, the Spring show from her and twin sister Daniela was one of their strongest yet. The inspiration was very '60s: German model Veruschka was the muse, and the peace-and-love vibe was hard to miss, especially given that the soundtrack (by Annette's music-producer husband, Arthur Baker) featured Janis Joplin, the Stones, and the Beatles.The twins are unapologetic body-con artists; what was new here was the freshness of the fabrics, textures, and prints. It all started with a teal metallic micro mini, shown with a breezy flamingo-print blouse. A printed dress in crimson had ingenious caped sleeves, and a lemon sherbet cover-up in a huckaback weave nailed the Veruschka vibe. Gauzy cotton and sheer panels abounded, giving a kind of peekaboo sexiness. There were plenty of backs and legs on display with halter tops and skater skirts (the Felders' signature silhouette), while metallic chain mail knits referenced the '60s in a modern, unpredictable way.It was also a collection with a conscience: All the leathers were faux. "We went vegan," said Annette. Those pieces included a covetable jacket with extra-long fringe, and a crimson faux-ostrich mini. Cowboy boots by Jessie Western had the crowd—full of young pop stars—straining for a second look.The '60s desire for harmony extended to Annette Felder's outfit—she was wearing a peace-sign T-shirt backstage. "There are at least 11 conflicts going on in this world at the same time, and they cannot be ignored," she said. "So we created these T-shirts for the Peace One Day charity. Fashion has been good to us, so we felt it was a good time for us to give back."
12 September 2014
The moveable feast of fashion month has landed in the Big Smoke, and one of the first out of the gates at LFW was Felder Felder. For those who missed this show because of NYC storms/Marc Jacobs (or because they were just plain too tired to get out of bed), more's the pity—the Teutonic twins put on a solid show partly inspired by their fellow countryman Gerhard Richter, the artist who made blurred lines famous before Robin Thicke. However, unlike Thicke and co., there was not even a hint of impropriety from designers Daniela and Annette Felder.Brilliant quilted skirts with mesh paneling were descended from a watercolor Richter print, topped off with a somewhat unforgiving bralet top in mohair that provided cleavage and an exposed midriff at the same time. (Well, the Felders have always been body-con advocates.) Mohair coats with gold Lurex made the blurred lines print pop even more. They were followed by the now familiar Felder Felder skater dress, which, along with waist insert cutouts and one-shouldered looks, drove that body-con thing home.The Felders experimented with laser cutting on leather pieces, adding a layer of organza underneath to mix things up. ("We always like contrast because of the twin thing," explained Daniela backstage.) Then came a blond-hair-like fabric, as if it just came off the spool, encased in plastic and sewn on blush pink pieces. It was an effect reminiscent of cutting off a lock of flaxen baby hair and pressing it into a favorite book for safekeeping. Feathered pieces followed, with Annette explaining that each piece took four weeks of hand-stitching to create. All fine, but with a yellow feathered dress—beautiful though it was—the designers had better brace themselves for some Big Bird comparisons.From the first look on, it was clear the Felders were making a statement on fabric, prints, and color, with silhouette coming second. That may well change next season, though, as Annette is seven months pregnant. There is nothing quite like a post-baby body to make one rethink the shape and fit of clothes.
13 February 2014
With the rain pouring down on day one of London fashion week, the German twins Daniela and Annette Felder immersed the fashion crowd in a watery-themed Spring collection. Models came out shimmering, with damp skin and slicked-back hair suggesting they had just emerged from the waves. Colors like aqua, seaweed, and coral and prints inspired by fish scales and shell-like shapes helped convey the oceanic motif. For the twins, it was a collection about jumping into the deep end: "We are from a small town from Germany, only around two thousand people. Getting into design in London was like diving into the unknown—so that's why water was a big inspiration for us this season."Felder Felder has long been known for its love of contrasts, and this showing was no exception: The fabrics were modern—think neoprene, plastic, tufts of organza, and lashes of quilting. Yet in contrast, the shapes were romantic and whimsical. An interesting waist detail on an aqua neoprene skirt suggested the shape of a clam, and a frothy chiffon blouse mimicked sea foam. There was a softness to that chiffon top, but for the most part, rigid shapes ruled. No surprise, since the designers (lanky six-footers themselves) prefer a close-to-the-body fit. There were body-loving racerback dresses and short fluted skirts, along with fit-and-flare numbers. One particular winning look was a kaleidoscopic quilted skater dress in a salmon scales print, with cutaway waist inserts. As Annette explained: "It's how you see the fish underwater—you know, when you go diving and all the colors get trippy."If there was anything fishy in the collection, it was the two black chiffon looks that came out mid-show; they were lacking in conviction and seemed unnecessarily harsh in the midst of such a buoyant collection. Otherwise, there was plenty here to please those looking for their Felder Felder fix.
12 September 2013
Women who have been fretting that their leather leggings and paint-on jeans just aren't tight enough will be happy to hear they have a new challenge before them: The latex cigarette pants at today's Felder Felder show definitely set a new standard for skinny. There were also sheer-ish latex pencil skirts and trenchcoats; taken together, the latex looks comprised the slick element in a collection that was effectively all about texture.Twins Daniela and Annette Felder mostly stuck to their signatures as far as the shapes were concerned—tight, abbreviated miniskirts and dresses, and likewise short flared skirts; lean yet diaphanous long silk dresses; some trim, tailored outerwear. But they elaborated those silhouettes by, say, producing a long wrap dress with a strong forties shoulder in leopard-spot dévoré velvet, or making miniskirts in quilted organza. Elsewhere, there was an abundance of a velvet bouclé with a texture much like Persian lamb; the material was very cool, though the Felders' use of it in a slouchy suit was somewhat misbegotten. Their hits of ponyskin were better judged, in particular the nice touch of burgundy pony on the sharp burgundy wool trenchcoat that opened the show. In general, though, the standouts here were the latex pieces; they'll be a challenge at retail, but they worked to bring an editorial elevation onto the runway, and the pieces felt idiomatically right for the brand. And in the meantime, there were plenty of other looks in this collection that will be easy to sell.
14 February 2013
In reviews of previous Felder Felder seasons, it's always seemed important to point out that designing twins Annette and Daniela Felder are exceptionally lithe and long-limbed girls who stand about six feet tall. That fact helped make sense of the Felder Felder clothes: To a great extent, Annette and Dani design for themselves. But something has changed, and the size and shape of the Felder twins doesn't seem so relevant anymore. The poised and pretty collection they showed today was stocked with clothes for women with all kinds of bodies, like soft suede suiting and relaxed halter-neck gowns. Even the Felders' trademark fit-and-flare dress has evolved, taking on a more supple and forgiving silhouette.This season also charted real growth in separates. Flared shorts, crop tops, sheer palazzo pants, and trim, V-neck button-downs all added dimension to a collection that was still, mainly, about dresses. The Felders should keep emphasizing those kinds of mix-and-match pieces, because they worked. And they should continue to develop their vocabulary of embellishment: This time out, they traded their usual punkish studs for fluttering scraps of chiffon, and in general, that worked, too. (Though a little of the chiffon went a long way.) Overall, this collection proved that the Felder twins can design for a more mature albeit still youthful clientele. As noted above, they do design for themselves.
13 September 2012
From the start, one of the principles of the Felder Felder look has been the label's rock 'n' roll influence, witnessed especially in sharp black leather jackets and accessories and studded everything. Designers Annette and Daniela Felder must have suspected that their rock signature was getting them into a bit of a rut, because they dispensed with it almost entirely this season and went for an altogether more grown-up tone for Fall.This was a show with a lot of texture, featuring nubby shearling jackets, fringed handknits, and dresses and skirts in a plissélike micro pleat. The palette was earthy, based in deep tans, plus mineral hits of dark red, plum, and gold. The Felder twins made some canny adaptations of their trademarks here, such as affixing barely-there gold studding to mannish wool jackets and applying a matching print to the wide leather belts accompanying several soft dresses. A lot of the silhouettes were familiar, in particular the Felder Felder fit-and-flare minidress, but the new palette helped to refresh the look. Not all the developments were successful—some of the handknit dresses looked awkward, for instance, and the beaded fringe was a little weird—but the Felders made some really impressive strides here. The standout look at the show was a polished and sexy long red dress, which bespoke a confidence in understatement that hasn't been seen in a Felder Felder collection until now.
16 February 2012
They may still love rock 'n' roll, but twins Daniela and Annette Felder have considerably softened their look in the past few seasons. Their Spring collection continued that work. With its frosty sherbet colors and flippy skater-skirt silhouettes, the Felders' brand of femininity has a prettiness to it. To retain an edge while toeing more commercial ground, they flirted with a near-dangerous level of sexiness. Some of that frisson was optional, like the models' slightly damp, back-combed hair and the skinny leather and gold-chain harnesses strapped around otherwise innocuous little chiffon dresses. But some—like the sheer webby knit and ice blue metallic leather mini—required a real commitment.For toughening things up, the Felders turned to the slightly less-than-inspired idea of hardware in sharp gold studs and rows of long bugle beads that suggested armor or artillery. They used a light touch; it may not even register in pictures. You could understand the reasons behind using the stuff sparsely: Negotiating the line between commerce and statement can be tricky. But at times, you just wanted them to go for it. Sometimes, after all, it pays to let it fly.
15 September 2011
The woman who leaves her house wearing Felder Felder's Fall silver leather, crystal-embroidered minidress is expecting some attention. Ditto the girl whose winter coat is the British label's white wool number, with its heaps of Mongolian lamb fur. Sisters Dani and Annette Felder are expanding the borders of their line beyond the rock-chick looks they've been known for, but they're still designing for the customer for whom all the world's a stage.The big new ideas this season were print and that floral crystal embroidery. It was refreshing to see color on the Felder Felder runway, and printed looks like tank-top minidressses with short dirndl skirts were uncharacteristically sweet. The sisters also used prints on their standby pieces, ultra-lean leggings and cropped biker jackets, and the graphic effect somewhat ameliorated the feeling that those silhouettes are passing their sell-by dates. If the crystal was overused, both in individual pieces and in the collection as a whole, the Felders' use of goat hair had intelligence and specificity. On a couple of pencil dresses, one printed and one black, the fur appeared as a kind of floating sleeve. That was a nice, subtly glamorous touch. Elsewhere, the designers seemed to be struggling with how to accommodate softer shapes to their sexy aesthetic, with decently commercial if hardly groundbreaking results. (See their bias-cut slipdresses.) All in all, this read like a "work-in-progress" collection: The Felder Felder sisters are clearly aiming to stretch themselves, but will need to continue to push further next time.
17 February 2011