MOON Berlin is a brand new illuminated fashion label from German fashion designers Brigitte Franken and Christian Bruns that debuted on January 18th at Berlin Fashion Week. Their inaugural collection, “I’m Not A Robot,” shows how illumination can be implemented into ready-to-wear clothing without being too high-fashion or gimmicky.Their first collection features classic evening looks, gowns, separates, jewelry, and accessories. The label plans to release one collection per year, and while the collection is not available for purchase online (each piece is made to order for the time being) they hope to sell their bags online soon. We caught up with Christian Bruns over email the day after his show to talk about MOON Berlin’s inspiration, the technology behind it, and of course… the future of fashion.The Creators Project: Why did you decide to focus on illuminated clothing during your studies at the Trier University of Applied Science? Have you always been interested in high-tech clothing?
Christian Bruns: Yes. I think high-tech clothing is one of the most innovative fields in fashion. There are often innovations in fashion you can’t see, but they are still there, like new fabrics with innovative functions or something like that. I’m very interested in the theme of “light.” I like the work of light artists a lot and I think that’s why I began to concentrate on working with light. Then I met Brigitte who shared a similar fascination. We are very happy that the technicians at Fraunhofer IZM and Stretchable Circuits developed a technique you can really use in clothes. All the other mechanisms that were used before are very fragile and could only be used onstage or for red carpet events.Had you worked with wearable tech in your other design work before the launch of MOON Berlin?
Yes, in my final collection at the university. It’s quite a different style than we do now. It was much younger and not so high fashion. You can see it here.What inspired the name of the collection: “I'm Not A Robot?”Every time we talk to anybody about light in fashion, people imagine fashion influenced by science fiction, but that’s not what we want to do. We wanted to show in our first collection that light works in classic clothing. So we made a collection with a lot of classic, clean, and simple styles. White blouses with black pants, inspired by the style of Marlene Dietrich, and also dresses inspired by the fashion of ancient Greece. We want to show that high-tech clothing doesn’t have to look futuristic.What are the main advantages and disadvantages of working with illuminated clothing?
The advantage is working in a field where there are lots of new options for design. The disadvantage is that it is more than double the work compared to designing normal clothes. The clothes are also really expensive. The technology for one style costs about 700€ ($960 USD) at the moment.How does the technology, embedded in the clothing, function? How are the lights powered? Does the garment otherwise function as a normal garment would?
All the styles are designed for optional light use, so you can wear the clothes without the light, and you still have a good piece of clothing. The technology is laminated onto the fabric, you can´t remove it from the clothing, but you can wash it. The lights are powered by an accumulator, the size of a chipcard. The clothes also have sensors that react with the movement of the body. If you are moving, the lights begin to shimmer faster and brighter. When you don’t move, the lights are dimmer and not as active.What other designers have inspired your work?
As I mentioned, the first collection is more inspired by historical research than by other designers. We look at the work done by other light designers like Hussein Chalayan, Moritz Waldemeyer, and Cute Circuit, but we don´t want to do what they do. Their work is based around stage costumes and art projects. We want to make plain and wearable clothes. That’s what’s really unique about our collection.Can you tell us what's on tap for the next collection? Will you be incorporating printed conductive circuits or chemical solutions, as alluded to on your website?
That depends on the progress of our partners. There are some small engineering problems, which will have to be solved. We only want to implement different technology when we’re sure that it really works.What other technologies do you see designers incorporating into clothing in the future?
Everything. I see shoes with loudspeakers, umbrellas with projectors and so on… I’m most excited about clothing that can heat and cool. That would be my favorite, not freezing in the winter and the ability to cool off easily in the summer.What will it take, or how long will it take, for people to stop associating high-tech clothing with sci-fi movies?
I don’t know. Maybe when they see our collection….Fashion show photography by Jürgen Bruck. Styled photography by Patrick Jendrusch. Fashion show footage shot by Manuel Stettner.
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Christian Bruns: Yes. I think high-tech clothing is one of the most innovative fields in fashion. There are often innovations in fashion you can’t see, but they are still there, like new fabrics with innovative functions or something like that. I’m very interested in the theme of “light.” I like the work of light artists a lot and I think that’s why I began to concentrate on working with light. Then I met Brigitte who shared a similar fascination. We are very happy that the technicians at Fraunhofer IZM and Stretchable Circuits developed a technique you can really use in clothes. All the other mechanisms that were used before are very fragile and could only be used onstage or for red carpet events.Had you worked with wearable tech in your other design work before the launch of MOON Berlin?
Yes, in my final collection at the university. It’s quite a different style than we do now. It was much younger and not so high fashion. You can see it here.What inspired the name of the collection: “I'm Not A Robot?”Every time we talk to anybody about light in fashion, people imagine fashion influenced by science fiction, but that’s not what we want to do. We wanted to show in our first collection that light works in classic clothing. So we made a collection with a lot of classic, clean, and simple styles. White blouses with black pants, inspired by the style of Marlene Dietrich, and also dresses inspired by the fashion of ancient Greece. We want to show that high-tech clothing doesn’t have to look futuristic.
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The advantage is working in a field where there are lots of new options for design. The disadvantage is that it is more than double the work compared to designing normal clothes. The clothes are also really expensive. The technology for one style costs about 700€ ($960 USD) at the moment.How does the technology, embedded in the clothing, function? How are the lights powered? Does the garment otherwise function as a normal garment would?
All the styles are designed for optional light use, so you can wear the clothes without the light, and you still have a good piece of clothing. The technology is laminated onto the fabric, you can´t remove it from the clothing, but you can wash it. The lights are powered by an accumulator, the size of a chipcard. The clothes also have sensors that react with the movement of the body. If you are moving, the lights begin to shimmer faster and brighter. When you don’t move, the lights are dimmer and not as active.What other designers have inspired your work?
As I mentioned, the first collection is more inspired by historical research than by other designers. We look at the work done by other light designers like Hussein Chalayan, Moritz Waldemeyer, and Cute Circuit, but we don´t want to do what they do. Their work is based around stage costumes and art projects. We want to make plain and wearable clothes. That’s what’s really unique about our collection.Can you tell us what's on tap for the next collection? Will you be incorporating printed conductive circuits or chemical solutions, as alluded to on your website?
That depends on the progress of our partners. There are some small engineering problems, which will have to be solved. We only want to implement different technology when we’re sure that it really works.What other technologies do you see designers incorporating into clothing in the future?
Everything. I see shoes with loudspeakers, umbrellas with projectors and so on… I’m most excited about clothing that can heat and cool. That would be my favorite, not freezing in the winter and the ability to cool off easily in the summer.What will it take, or how long will it take, for people to stop associating high-tech clothing with sci-fi movies?
I don’t know. Maybe when they see our collection….Fashion show photography by Jürgen Bruck. Styled photography by Patrick Jendrusch. Fashion show footage shot by Manuel Stettner.