It is not so rare to leaf through a vintage magazine and spot a creation by a designer who may be worth rediscovering or that may inspire curators to do more researches and, who knows, even lead to exhibitions. For example, the ensembles featured in this post appeared on Italian magazine Annabella in November 1960.
The first image shows the model in a graphite grey flannel skirt suit matched with a practical coat with ample collar and a lining inspired by Norwegian motifs; in the second the model wore a similar coat (with a different cut - it is indeed collarless and features kimono sleeves and oversized buttons) with a swamp green skirt matched with a sweater characterised by the same motifs of the lining of the coat.
The designs were created by German fashion designers Uli Richter and were actually among his most popular creations. There haven't been many exhibitions about him or featuring his designs, but, between 2016 and 2017 the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin organised an exhibition celebrating him entitled "Uli Richter Revisited – Fashion Visionary, Teacher, Inspiration" (the museum has its own Richter collection).
Born in 1926 in Postdam, Richter contributed to forging "Made in Berlin" fashion and style. After his apprenticeship as a Diplom-Textilkaufmann, he started his training at the Horn fashion house in Berlin in 1948 and, just a year later, he produced his first dress. Dubbed "Marcelle", the dress looked simple yet stylish, with a pleated skirt and a fitted bodice and it soon became a bestseller.
Richter became Head Stylist at Horn and also manager at the fashion house Schröder & Eggeringhaus, later on renamed S & E Modelle Uli Richter. Richter favoured simplicity and functionality, but his designed still retained some elegance: his reversible coat with Norwegian pattern from 1960 perfectly represents his passion for practical yet smart fashion. While the inspiration and colours for this design were borrowed from his couture collections, the doubleface coat was produced industrially abroad, which guaranteed consumers more affordable prices.
The "Uli Richter Revisited" exhibition also featured this doubleface coat that became for visitors a sort of timeless proof of Richter's intuitions and inspirations.
In the mid-'80s Richter became a Fashion Design lecturer at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin (today known as the UdK) and was an inspiration for his students. Yet, while he started teaching only later on in his life, there were lessons to learn already in his most famous creations, such as the designs included in this post: Richter got indeed an exclusive right to use the Norwegian knitwear pattern for his coats, so there was no mere appropriation of traditional knitted motifs in his garments.
Finding an interesting item in a vintage magazine can therefore help us finding a designer we may want to rediscover, a creation that may prove inspiring for a younger generation of fashion designers or even a theme worth investigating (copyrights in this case). So, are you a curator still looking for ideas for your next fashion exhibition? Leaf through some vintage magazines and you'll definitely find them.
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