STEFFEN LANGNER · Alsdorf, Germany
A counter of blouses, a rail of dresses
STEFFEN LANGNER works from a small studio in Alsdorf, where the collection is deliberately split in two: four blouses on a counter and four dresses on a rail. The split came from a working week, not a mood board. A blouse has to survive a desk, a jacket and a wash; a dress has to do the same and then carry an evening without a change of clothes. So the blouses are plaid, lace-embroidered, pointelle and square-necked, and the dresses are crochet tiers, a knot front, a lace-up back and a strapless sheath. Eight pieces, chosen so that any blouse can be worn with more than one of them.
Lace, pointelle and plaid
Lace is a soft corded quality with a matte hand, not the stiff net that scratches an arm after an hour, and its scalloped edge is planned into the pattern instead of being trimmed off. Pointelle is knitted on an open gauge that needs a smooth yarn, so it is checked for snagging on a ring before it is approved. Plaid is matched at the centre front, which is the first line a wearer sees in a mirror, and at the side seam, which is the line everyone else sees. Nothing here is dry-clean only unless the label says so, and when it does, the product page says it in the first paragraph.
How a hem is checked
A hem is the first thing to go wrong and the last thing anyone inspects, so here it is checked twice: once flat on the table with a ruler, and once on a body, walking. A bias-cut skirt is hung for forty-eight hours before it is levelled, because viscose drops and a hem cut too early will sit crooked by the time it reaches a customer. Buttons are pulled to test the thread, zips are run up and down twenty times, and every hook and eyelet is closed and opened before packing. Anything that fails goes back to the machine rather than into a parcel with an apology.
From a small workroom in Alsdorf
Orders are packed in the same small workroom, one at a time, by the people who check them. Each piece is steamed, measured against its listing and folded with tissue and a care card that names the fabric and the wash it needs. Because the workroom sits in western Germany, parcels travel into damp weather for much of the year, so anything with a delicate stitch is wrapped in a cloth bag before it goes into the mailer. Tracking goes out when a label is printed. Returns arrive at the same door, are inspected within two working days, and are logged before a refund is raised.