The Inspiration
“I like fashion to surprise. It’s progress, it’s energy, it’s strength.
When preparing the shooting of our archive pieces (1978-1992) for the 100 year book, I knew right away we had to work with them. They were new, unexpected, and in perfect proportions of today. They made me think of something different to celebrate 100 years, something you would normally not presume.
Let’s call it a rebeginning, an incentive to pause, a point in which everything can reappear or renew itself. A collection where past, present, and future coexist. A look back to move forward into a new century!” – Albert Kriemler
Some designs defy time. The Alpha is the first Akris cashmere double-face coat, created by Max Kriemler. As an homage to his father, Albert Kriemler has chosen the original coat from 1978 as his opening look. It is one of nine pieces taken from the archive, which are shown on the runway and are reprised for this collection. For the book Akris – A Century in Fashion, they were photographed by Iwan Baan in the iconic building of the University of St. Gallen, a Brutalist landmark designed by Walter M. Förderer (1963).
The Lace
The lace in this collection originates from Albert Kriemler’s designs of the 1980s. “While searching for it, we realized the original laces had a strength that we could not find in any of today’s replacements,” Albert Kriemler states. That what is just right cannot be surpassed; it took six months for the initial lacemaker in Calais to reproduce it.
The Hearts
“Fashion never is a solo love affair,” Albert Kriemler says. The Hearts was the first Akris print (Fall 1989) created by Gianpaolo Ghioldi, Albert Kriemler's valued print manufacturer in Como, Italy. None is more enduring than the heart, it represents the very essence of life; and love; and a precious collaboration of creative craftsmanship and sense of color that has lasted for over 30 years. “It was the foundation of our own way to the future, to design collector’s prints coveted by the women who wear them for years.”
Ugo Rondinone
WE ARE POEMS, 2011
Neon, perspex, translucent
film, aluminum
1000 cm x 310 cm x 15 cm
The strong, vivid hues shining in this collection appear as the shades of the rainbow. A color spectrum beautifully represented in Ugo Rondinone’s visual cosmos, particularly his rainbow works. WE ARE POEMS embodies the artist’s fascination with poetry emphasizing the subjective, the irrational, the emotional. The Swiss-born, New York-based artist believes that poetry–like art–needs no explanation, no thinking, but rather demands simply to be felt. Albert Kriemler has selected this artwork as a symbol for the self-evident sensuality of Akris clothes and as a perfect representation for this moment. A hundred years ago, his grandmother Alice Kriemler set out to define a woman’s presence and enhance her charisma, and that very much remains Albert Kriemler’s mission today.
The Croquis
A sketch is the departure of any creation; the first, spontaneous formulation of an idea. “Yet, a sketch would remain theoretical, my wishful thinking only, without my team and their interactions,” Albert Kriemler states. “All of them, their experience, mastery, and imagination, are the very secret of Akris.” In this collection, The Croquis celebrated in embroidery and print stands for the powerful impact of this collective. Witty, charming, and designed by Albert Kriemler’s team as an anniversary surprise for him, it tells a very personal story.