As any Fashion House we had our ups and downs, but there was a moment around 2013 where it felt like our time was finally up. We did go on in spite of seemingly overwhelming odds, stopping the shows and winding down the collection to an absolute minimum. When we started showing again in 2015 I felt a new energy around us and my work, that whatever direction Fashion was heading to it was finally turning our way. Streetwear, sportswear, casual and couture, taken out of context, elevated and transformed. This, in turn galvanised me, and it all came together in this collection, Fall/Winter 2016. We were suddenly more visible than we had ever been, had the best reviews of my career, and the sales were the best we’d had for years. I sometimes wonder what would have happened had we given up.. but it’s a futile thought because we didn’t 😎💪😍.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUTZ BOMBER? Every season I tell myself that this was the last idea I’ll ever have .. and then something new always comes up 🤗 .. does anybody know this feeling ? After finishing a collection I always wonder where the next one will come from , that I won’t have any new ideas.. and then something magical happens 🤩
2 days before the presentation of the Fall/ Winter 2016 Collection I decided to add a Bomber Jacket to the looks.. I had an idea of making a ‘double- breasted’ Bomber, inspired by a jacket used for fencing. To try out the idea I took my old Alpha Industries Bomber and cut out the front panel, replacing it with a piece of beige wool I had left over. I liked it so much that I decided to just put it into the show as it was , making versions in blue ( with red wool) and black . I also added a coat version. After the show every single store wanted to order these, so we started selling them without having any idea how to produce, seeing as it was made with an original Bomber jacket from Alpha Industries. I had no other choice but to call them and tell them what I had been doing, it turned out they had seen photos and wondered what this was all about- and a collaboration was born. I have since made a new version with the Bomber every season , but that first one, called the LUTZ BOMBER, is still so special to me.
“…What’s also happening now is that designers make clothes for people as opposed to making them for a fashion show, which has always been my main preoccupation anyway. Obviously, as these clothes are much closer to reality, it also changes the general aesthetic of fashion. I have never understood the idea of creating clothes for a fashion show and then selling something different afterwards. Saint Laurent and Chanel were such important designers because they dressed people above anything else, and that is what is happening again now.” Read Lutz Huelle in conversation with Pedro Canicoba in MANY OF THEM Magazine
Barbie Ferreira wears Lutz’s Denim Coat in TEEN VOGUE, photo by Quentin Jones , Styling by Gillian Wilkins
Lutz/Lutz Huelle POP Magazine 35 A/W 2016 (part 2) Photography and Layout by Wolfgang Tillmans, Styling by Max Pearmain, Models Georgia Howorth and Eleanor Turnbull
Lutz and Ashley in The Flore, A Pop Conversation with a Cult Hero’ POP Magazine 35 A/W 2016, Photos by Wolfgang Tillmans