Jessica Weiß is the highly hip Berlin-based blogger of lesmads.de. Along with her chic cohort Julia Knolle, in 2007 Weiß founded one of the rare blogs leading Germany’s young fashionistas and giving old-fashioned style journalists cause for concern. The two were even spotlighted as representatives of the blogging generation on a video by Mary Scherpe (Stil in Berlin), which ran on the Huffington Post and featured Suzy Menkes. Les Mads is regularly cited by fashion savvy readers as one of the best German language sources of style news, exclusive interviews and sharp, sassy writing.
This season, Les Mads is undergoing an overhaul as Knolle moves towards concentrating more on art than fashion. New bloggers will be joining the team and a fresh design will greet Berlin Fashion Week. As these updates approach, Weiß finds time to discuss her options and observations about fashion in Germany, on and off line.
Ana Finel Honigman: How does Germany rank against other emerging fashion capitals?
Jessica Weiß: I feel like every talented German designer sells everywhere except Germany. It is pretty difficult to build your own fashion label here so it seems hard to be as emerging like Stockholm or Copenhagen.
AFH: Besides the brain-drain, what does fashion in Germany have to offer a global market?
JW: Great jewelry such as Sabrina Dehoff’s work and avant-garde daywear from JULIAANDBEN, as well as HuiHui’s funny prints and, of course, the one and only Karl Lagerfeld.
AFH: Why do you think that German fashion is struggling to establish itself?
JW: Depends on the view. We have Jil Sander, Bernhard Willhelm, Lagerfeld, Wolfgang Joop with Wunderkind and big brands such as Boss. But they are selling better in other countries than here. We also have smaller brands like Reality Studio. In my opinion it is difficult to sell outstanding ideas here because Germans in general aren't too interested in fashion.
AFH: What are Germans more interested in spending money to buy?
JW: It is more about lifestyle. Germans prefer to spend on living, food and cars.
AFH: Why do you think that Germans are not too interested in fashion?
JW: If I only knew!
AFH: Do you think there is a potential Lagerfeld around now?
JW: I have no idea what's happening at all the design schools at the moment, but I haven't seen one yet.
AFH: Are you scared of Berlin gentrifying and becoming just another classy city?
JW: Not at all. Berlin is a city that never sleeps with great ideas popping out of nowhere all the time.
AFH: Sure. But New York and London were like that and now look how lame they are.
JW: But, I love both cities...
AFH: Do you feel that Germany's other cities also have unique creative potential?
JW: Hamburg is great. And it is very well known for advertising and photography.
AFH: Do you really think that bloggers will render fashion journalists extinct?
JW: No, it's just another view on seeing things and therefore an addition to fashion journalists.
AFH: Phew? Are there fashion journalists whose work you particularly admire?
JW: Alex Fury from ShowStudio writes critics about fashion shows in five minutes furnished with words I haven't heard of before. That is really special and admirable.
AFH: Do you feel that you and your interests represent a "younger voice" or just your individual views?
JW: Probably both!
AFH: Who are your readers?
JW: Mainly women between 16 and 35 who like fashion and want to get their daily dose of news and inspiration.
AFH: How do you decide what deserves coverage?
JW: Just personal taste. Plus interesting fashion news that are part of the whole industry.
AFH: What overall brands, styles or stories seem to interest them most?
JW: Outfits and personal stories about our every day life. They also care about brands that everyone can afford. They want information on Urban Outfitters, Weekday and H&M. But they also want a mixture of vintage and luxury brands too.
AFH: How would you describe your own personal style?
JW: I like to mix vintage and Scandinavian brands.
AFH: Who are your personal style inspirations?
JW: I scroll through the Internet a lot. I therefore see a bunch of pictures of people. I guess that's it.
AFH: How did your interest in fashion writing develop?
JW: We started off with personal interests and our view on fashion. Then after discovering more and more interesting websites, my ambition to be as good and well informed as the English speaking websites kept growing.
AFH: How did you decide on the look of the site?
JW: I think it is important that the site looks professional. We wanted it to be very uncomplicated and self-explanatory. I love to have all the information on just one page. We wanted to show what we have to offer right away. The rest reflects our personal style.
AFH: What do you see in Les Mads
future?
JW: We're starting a network with new writers in the near future to have more interesting content our website and I hope to make a brand out of Les Mads.
AFH: What is cool to you?
JW: People with great individual ideas and opinions that don't follow others.
AFH: What do you think of the established German fashion press?
JW: Is there any established German fashion press? Honestly asking.
AFH: That's what I thought. I don’t read German, so I'm pretty ignorant about what exists. But why not? Vogue exists and you guys are super-loved, so there must be an audience somewhere.
JW: Yes, but we don't have people like Cathy Horyn or Suzy Menkes writing for big newspapers. It's not part of our culture. But still, when you're talking about "established fashion press" I do not count blogs in. Not yet. I would love to see Les Mads as a part of it one day.
[Images: Jessica Weiß, photographed in the sugarhigh offices, by Maxime Ballesteros]
