Bauer's Brauhaus

Back in September, while I was bartending for the American Aid Society Jugendgruppe at German Days in Lincoln Square, a young man approached me and told me that he was opening up a restaurant in Palatine and was interested in using my dirndls as waitress uniforms for the staff. I was super excited, but explained to him that the detailed hand work and some of the dry clean only fabrics I use would not hold up too well as uniforms for his waitstaff. However I also told him that I would be more than happy to work with him on a special design for the Restaurant.

About a month later I get a call that he is still interested and wants to get together and talk about ideas for the dirndls for Bauer's Brauhaus. He said that he thought he might be able to work with the beer distributer and get them to allow him to use the logo on the dirndl. So I had the 3 beer logos screen printed onto the aprons and designed a simple 100% machine washable dirndl to match the Raderberger, DAB, and Tucher logos


And yesterday was the fitting! When i arrived in amidst the snowfall, I couldn't help but notice how nice the restaurant looked from the outside! I walked in and I was even more impressed! It looks brand new, yet rustic and cozy at the same time. The medieval beer stein chandelier is impressive along with all the modern flat screens along the bar. It looks like a great place to hang out and eat some great german food.


The fittings went über well! Everything fit like a glove and all I need to do is take up some of the hems! I'm so excited for the opening on Monday, January 23rd and to stop by next week for some food and to see my dirndls in action!

2011 Collection Inspiration

I'm so excited about the 2011 collection. It has a dark elegance feel to it and that is something I love to play with. Sometimes I don't get to choose what I am inspired by, sometimes it just happens. While working on the 2010 collection I would watch episodes of the Syfy TV show, Stargate Atlantis.
Not only was I hooked on the show, I was in awe of the costuming and the creativity surrounding the characters. It gave me the basis for the 2011 collection.


There are 3 main color sections in the collection. The first is light green, red and black. This color scheme is based on the main villain in the series, the Wraith. These are hands down the most bad ass aliens ever. They survive on human life which they suck out of you with their feeding hand... i know what your thinking... AWESOME! Whats even better is they have a confidence about them... they know how awesome they are. Their clothing is also one of a kind and was the inspiration for the use of a great red, metallic, imitation lizard skin that will be used as ascents and belts.

The next color story is black and grey. The series is full of dark and eerie places that they main characters go exploring and I wanted to bring some dark and eeriness to the collection. However the darks are paired with other brighter colors like blues and purples that are like little glimpses of color in the dark of space.


Which brings me to the final color scheme which is light blues, royal purple, and plaid. This color story is inspired by the space that the characters explore and they colors of their home of operation, Atlantis. Atlantis is an ancient outpost surrounded by water and sky. I would love to go there (if it were real of course). The style of these garments are also more structured and military-like as opposed to the organic and draped nature of the wraith inspired pieces.



All in all, I'm still in love with all the pieces of the collection and am so excited to debut it. However, I have been getting orders (which is awesome sauce!) but it gives me little time to create the new pieces. My goal is to have the collection available online mid March! Its a little eerie, a little elegant, a little menswear, but its all Rare!