MADAME - FEBRUARY 2012

KUNSTVOLL
Handgezeichnetes Gemüse auf Seidentüchern verhalf dem Designerinnen-Duo Eleonore von Schwanenflügel und Stephanie Pupke zu einem Senkrechtstart. Denn kaum in der Fashionszene angekommen, gewannen sie mit ihrem 2011 gegründeten Label Vonschwanenflügelpupke den Premium Young Designers Award. Jetzt wurde die Kollektion um Kleider, Mäntel und Röcke erweitert. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf ikonografischen Formen und neuen Silhuetten.

WWD, JANUARY 2012

The design duo behindBerlin's VONSCHWANENFLÜGELPUPKE met as interns for Wolfgang Joops label WUNDERKIND. Eleonore von Schwanenflügel, now 34, who studied at AMD Hamburg, and Stephanie Pupke, now 32, who attended the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin, quickly decided they would have their own label, and they would do it together. But not right away. VONSCHWANENFLÜGELPUPKE spent four years as design assistant at Potsdam's Wunderkind, while Pupke stayed 5 years as design coordinator. These years of grounding experience, many in accessories and prints, led them to start their label with scarves - with a twist. "Everyone's printing flowers, butterflies and skulls." says Pupke. "We realized beets and beans were very beautiful things to work on." The team also drew on their roots for inspiration , including von Schwanenflügel's family's organic farm in northern Germany. The labels's exquisite and detailed fine silk and cotton scarves and shawls with vibrantly printed produce and garden plans won them fans and a Premium Young Designers Award for Spring 2012. Von Schwanenflügel's farming father, however , was not amused by blue carrots and pink beans. "He was a little confused about my view on vegetables," she laughed. Pupke chimed in, "He said, Don't you know better?" With a healthy start in accessories, the pair turned the page to ready-to-wear, showing a small collection of delicate solid separates at Capsule in Paris last October. Their fall collection, to be shown at Premium during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Berlin, will mark a new chapter for the designers. The collection of about 30 pieces, inspired by books, will play with hard and soft contrasts, using wool, cashmere and cotton batiste in shades of blue, red, black, grey and white. One favorite for the designers is a stiff jersey, said Pupke. "It's so stiff that you do not realize it is a jersey - that is interesting for us." In dresses heavier shapes will fall as protective layers over finely cut sheets of chiffon - covered pages, some printed with letters. "We love that shape - the apron story," explained Pupke. "It must be our peasant upbringing." Edges are finished with rough bookbinder stitches and, at times, edged in gold. Retro-tinged shapes that form and skim the body speak volumes, and are modernized by cuts and contrasts.Designing for young women like themselves, the duo strives to keep prices affordable. At retail, the latest editions of day dresses start at 270 € or 350 $ and coats range from 300 € to 500 € or 390 $ or 650 $. VONSCHWANENFLÜGELPUPKE will also represent regulary four scarf collections a year. The scarves are currently available in eight shops around Germany and in several online boutiques selling for about 159 € , or around 200 $.
-SUSAN STONE-

The design duo behindBerlin's VONSCHWANENFLÜGELPUPKE met as interns for Wolfgang Joops label WUNDERKIND. Eleonore von Schwanenflügel, now 34, who studied at AMD Hamburg, and Stephanie Pupke, now 32, who attended the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin, quickly decided they would have their own label, and they would do it together. But not right away. VONSCHWANENFLÜGELPUPKE spent four years as design assistant at Potsdam's Wunderkind, while Pupke stayed 5 years as design coordinator. These years of grounding experience, many in accessories and prints, led them to start their label with scarves - with a twist. "Everyone's printing flowers, butterflies and skulls." says Pupke. "We realized beets and beans were very beautiful things to work on." The team also drew on their roots for inspiration , including von Schwanenflügel's family's organic farm in northern Germany. The labels's exquisite and detailed fine silk and cotton scarves and shawls with vibrantly printed produce and garden plans won them fans and a Premium Young Designers Award for Spring 2012. Von Schwanenflügel's farming father, however , was not amused by blue carrots and pink beans. "He was a little confused about my view on vegetables," she laughed. Pupke chimed in, "He said, Don't you know better?" With a healthy start in accessories, the pair turned the page to ready-to-wear, showing a small collection of delicate solid separates at Capsule in Paris last October. Their fall collection, to be shown at Premium during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Berlin, will mark a new chapter for the designers. The collection of about 30 pieces, inspired by books, will play with hard and soft contrasts, using wool, cashmere and cotton batiste in shades of blue, red, black, grey and white. One favorite for the designers is a stiff jersey, said Pupke. "It's so stiff that you do not realize it is a jersey - that is interesting for us." In dresses heavier shapes will fall as protective layers over finely cut sheets of chiffon - covered pages, some printed with letters. "We love that shape - the apron story," explained Pupke. "It must be our peasant upbringing." Edges are finished with rough bookbinder stitches and, at times, edged in gold. Retro-tinged shapes that form and skim the body speak volumes, and are modernized by cuts and contrasts.Designing for young women like themselves, the duo strives to keep prices affordable. At retail, the latest editions of day dresses start at 270 € or 350 $ and coats range from 300 € to 500 € or 390 $ or 650 $. VONSCHWANENFLÜGELPUPKE will also represent regulary four scarf collections a year. The scarves are currently available in eight shops around Germany and in several online boutiques selling for about 159 € , or around 200 $.
-SUSAN STONE-

DERZEIT, JANUARY 2012

FANCY BEANS
I hated beans in elementary school. To avoid having to eat them, I once thought that hiding them in my ears and nostrils. Bad idea. This impulsive resulted in heavy internal bleeding and permanently impaired balance. If the brand new German label Vonschwanenflügelpupke had already been founded back then, none of this would have happened. The two designers print hand drawn beans on classic silk and woolen squares - and they do it in such a kitschy, happy way that any residual feelings of childish distaste for the vegetable of horror will vanish! Their designs won them the Premium Young Designers Award S/S 2012 in the accessories category. Currently , they are on display at the Galeries Lafayette. Gourmet Fashion. Also recommended for literal epicures: the basement floor of the departmentstore. CP