in the TALENTS section of VOGUE ITALIA in April 2019

here in the original Italian

and here, in English translation (links aren’t working yet and photos still not uploaded, a work-in-progress!)

The Berlin brand AFTER MARCH, created by the curator and journalist April von Stauffenberg, supports a more sustainable fashion, one shirt at a time

Some fabrics, such as lycra and nylon, take hundreds of years to dissolve in the environment. The fashion industry, according to a recent United Nations report, is among the most polluting on the planet: only 1% of the clothing produced is recycled. In Berlin, however, a young new brand is fighting against this phenomenon one shirt at a time. It's called After March.

Five reasons to find out more:

– Made by the art curator and journalist April von Stauffenberg, a native of North Carolina, this original brand takes men's shirts – in 100% cotton and made in Europe – from vintage shops, and gives them a new identity, a second life so to speak, with cuts, inserts, knots, and hand-drawn embellishments that make them unique and extremely feminine. The result is a sort of boyfriend shirt deconstructed in a creative and modern way, to be worn with personality, verve, and a sense of humor.

I LOVE DICK (Thank you Chris Kraus for this title). Shop the shirt here

– The brand was founded as an antithesis to fast fashion. An avid consumer of Zara and H&M, April began to convert to slow fashion – and decided to take action – after seeing a film about the impact of the fashion industry called "The True Cost". April's mission? Making the vintage "stylish and cool" through what she calls "boosted" or “special effects” vintage. With the hope that "instead of being the second cause of pollution in the world, fashion will become a pioneer of practices that change the world."

Early Morning Mini-Vacation. Shop the shirt here

– Sustainability is naturally a strong point: all the alternations made by AFTER MARCH are done either by hand, by the designer herself, or by small local tailors in Berlin. Furthermore, all of the transportation, from one end of the city to the other, is by bicycle.

Dr Spock. Shop the shirt here

– Recently the line has been extended to include, blazers, modified and embellished – with vintage knitted sleeve sleeves for example – to become unique pieces. And now the skirts are peeping out too.

– After recent collaborations with the fashion designer Vladimir Karaleev, April has a few creative synergies in the pipeline with different artists (including Douglas Gordon), and with stylists from the Berlin fashion scene.

Peaches and Herbs. Shop the shirt here

All photos © Dominik Schulthess