The womenswear label Don’t Shoot The Messengers is still in its infancy, but is already creating quite a buzz amongst Berlin’s more attentive fashion journalists.
New Zealander Kyle Callanan and Canadian Jennifer Gilpin are building up a brand that is defiantly “not trend driven” (as Kyle insists), but focuses instead on a range of covetable, timeless items such as slinky black leather waistcoats and jackets, panelled silk dresses, and boxy unisex t-shirts. Leather is historically the fashion industry’s most bastardized material, but Kyle and Jennifer use it masterfully on tactile panels on the front of their silk “Cage” frock, as trimming on the edges of a structured miniskirt, and to create their made-to-measure black bandeau mini-dress – which alone should be the reigning item of any woman’s capsule wardrobe. “We focus mainly on the high-end line, and our designs filter down to the low-end collection,” explains Jennifer.
Their clothes are available in Berlin at FourStore; the pair also offer a custom-made service from their Prenzlauer Berg atelier. A bespoke leather dress costs around €900, but is well worth the investment: all the pieces are exquisitely made and surpass the transience of mainstream fashion. The pair’s designs are bold, sexy and have a sense of humour – their new majestic studded leather handbag (photo) has been labelled “the Cock” (“Because of its handle,” says Jennifer with a smile). Definitely not for wallflowers.
Don’t Shoot The Messengers | www.dont-shoot-the-messengers.com. Available at FourStore.
