A vintage shirt does not have to sparkle. But it could, if it has passed through the hands of Anne Bernecker. Pre-loved becomes a statement piece with slow couture, made in Berlin. I first met Anne Bernecker when she was still living in London. We swapped apartments once, briefly, over the holidays. We have found each other again in Berlin, where she is now based and designs under her own name. Our conversations are always a kind of exchange in themselves, because Anne knows this industry inside out. After training as a tailor, she went on to study at Central Saint Martins in London, where she was taught by, among others, Hussein Chalayan, who now teaches at HTW Berlin. What followed were years at international fashion houses, including Versace, and a growing understanding of how the industry works and its limits. In response, she founded her label not as a retreat from fashion, but as a considered position within it.
Her pieces are created in Berlin and don’t follow a conventional production cycle. The starting point is always a vintage find, often menswear: blazers, shirts, jackets that have already lived a life. Through intricate hand embroidery, she gives them a new language. Masculine cuts meet delicate couture craftsmanship and become something unexpectedly elegant in the process. The embroidery is produced partly in her Berlin atelier and partly in Mumbai, where she works with one of the city’s leading embroidery companies, a business that is around 150 years old and now run by its sixth-generation embroidery director. The company is also part of the Uthan NGO program, which supports embroidery workers in India. Each finished piece is one of a kind. Slow fashion, or more precisely, slow couture. Personalities such as Iris Berben wear her designs both privately and in editorial contexts, which makes perfect sense: these are pieces that can elevate an everyday look just as easily as they hold their own on a larger stage. Alongside her collection, Anne Bernecker works as a trend consultant, advising companies on cultural and consumer shifts. She sees what is coming and what will last. Her own pieces fall firmly into the second category.
Text: Nina Trippel / Photos: Ansgar Sollmann
Anne Bernecker
@anne_bernecker
