Alexandra Fischer-Roehler and Johanna Kühl founded their label, Kaviar Gauche, to represent Berlin's unique mix of grit and glamor. Their first catwalk show for the 2009 Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week Berlin featured lucky Lady Godivas sporting nothing but their covetable bags and ornate necklaces. Kavier Gauche went in the opposite direction in recent seasons by showcasing their sophisticated bridal wear. Here, Fischer-Roehler and Kühl respond as one when discussing the delicate balance between edginess and elegance.
AFH: Tell me the thinking behind the name, Kaviar Gauche.
KG: The name is taken from the French term “gauche caviar” (“left caviar”), which was often used to describe a group of Parisian people who claimed to be Socialists or seemingly coquetted with the socialist party. However, they did not embrace a proletarian lifestyle. Instead, they were some sort of jet setters.
AFH: In New York, we call them “the limo left.” How do they relate to you?
KG: Regarding our label, we chose the name because it stands for a certain contradiction or rather a contrast between what you really are and your self-image,which you project and can play with. Contrasts have always inspired us. So we generally use a lot of conflicting elements in our designs—it is a basic idea that runs through all of the collections.
AFH: Why do bridal wear? Doesn’t bridal wear essentially just tell one, pretty and simple story?
KG: Before the launch of our bridal couture collection, women often bought our evening dresses in white to wear them to their wedding. We saw this demand and we decided to focus on this topic. So we designed a whole collection of wedding dresses that you can also wear to any other occasion.
AFH: So they aren’t exactly wedding gowns, more like wedding-worthy gowns?
KG: Of course, we do not make traditional wedding gowns. We create our own look for a modern, feminine and mysterious woman who knows who she is and what she wants.
AFH: Besides versatility, what makes your bridal wear distinct from the pretty fluffy, super-sweet stuff that’s the norm of the genre?
KG: We play with contrasting elements. We combine white silk and chiffon with leather and metal accessories to achieve a fresh and modern style. We want to make women feel comfortable and special.
AFH: Seeing the success of your bags, I would say that there are a lot of women who agree with your aesthetic. They are extremely chic and comfortable. Yet, considering that your bags are Berlin’s answer to the IT-bag phenomena and have become the quintessential stylish Berliner’s accessory, how do they stay “special”? How have the bags changed since you developed your signature shape and style?
KG: The bags have changed quite a bit in style and shape but they never lack our signature. We neither try to produce the same look every season nor do we want everything to look completely different from what we did before. We have a basis of shapes that are typical of Kaviar Gauche. We blend the details from our RTW collection to these shapes to create the season’s accessories. Our bags and accessories always seem to just grow with our ideas and inspirations, so that we do not really have to think about how to maintain or dismiss any particular style / shape. One bag has remained our classic from the very beginning: our Lamellabag—yet we re-interpret it each season.
AFH: How do your bags, especially the Lamellabag, represent a specific Berlin aesthetic?
KG: Since we are based in Berlin, then so certain aspects of the bags’ styles might be seen as representations of the Berlin aesthetic. We consider this a compliment. It means possessing a personal style and public image enabling the wearing to rock a straightforward look while simultaneously maintaining charming down-to-earthiness.
AFH: You've also started making your labels larger and bolder on your bags? Why have you moved towards making more overtly "It" bags?
KG: We did not really force it. Some bags just became quite popular because of their style and structure, which people could easily attribute to our label. For example, the lamella and motorcycle structures continue to appear in every season’s collection, and we always interpret them in a new way and set them up in a different setting.
AFH: Your bags seem pretty hardcore and urban. Why select a mostly pretty and pastel palette and light shapes for your clothes?
KG: Again, it is about the contrast. Soft, fresh and fluent combined with a cool little bag, with some metallic details—that is what we like. Also there is a functional aspect—how many times can you use a light bag before it does not look fresh anymore?
AFH: Which other labels in Berlin do you feel are compatible with your style and sensibility?
KG: Happily enough there are more emerging designers now although it is developing very slowly. Most of the designers have their own look, so we do not get into each other’s handwriting, which is great.
AFH: How has Berlin changed for emerging designers since you started your line?
KG: Obviously, Berlin is still a very popular city among uprising artists and designers. Even though it does not really provide highly favorable financial circumstances, as it used to a few years ago. Many designers still do not really sell their collections well here.
AFH: What remain the biggest challenges for designers in Berlin?
KG: Berlin still lacks London or Paris’s spending spirit and spending power. You have to find a niche to be able to open up a store and keep it running. But we actually feel a recent change. There was a shift in consuming this last year. Berliners and tourists are now coming to Berlin increasingly willing to spend money on fashion.
AFH: How is this helping younger designers in this globally insecure economy? I think that Berlin is dealing better, and set to fare much better, than other cities because the pricepoints and financial ideology has always been so much more modest than other major cities.
KG: Young, upcoming designers often underestimate the importance of a favorable economic environment and the necessity of organizing and administrating to your business. Berlin apparently suggests that all you need is your creativity and good friends who work in the scene to be a successful designer. Yet, the moment that you become more known, both factors kind of lose their meanings.
AFH: What advice do you give fledgling designers?
KG: Berlin is a city in progress, and people are trying hard to transform it into another fashion capital that is able to keep up with all the big ones—Paris, Milan, New York, London—but with Berlin it is a different story, we are still far from living in a fashion capital and we are very happy about this. We believe Berlin does not really need to compete with the others.
[Images: Alexandra Fischer-Roehler and Johanna Kühl photographed backstage at the Kaviar Gauche show, all by Daniella Müller-Brunke.]
