Did you expect to win?

C: Noo! Usually the winners of ‘Hyères’ do quite feminine clothes, but our collection was more causal.

D: We presented in our winter collection clothes with strong colors. All models were enveloped in a lot of textile fabrics. So we were quite the opposite of feminine fashion.

C: It was the 20 years anniversary of the competition and the winners were not French, but German! This must have been quite a shock for some people. Usually high quality fashion comes from Belgium, France or England.

Mini collection for Topshop Photo: © Alex Kohout

What does C. Neeon mean?

D: The C stands for Clara and Neeon comes from my little sisters mispronunciation of Doreen. We wanted a name that didnt sound feminine nor masculine.

Why are you doing fashion?

D: Oh! For my self, I can say that my familiar background were also in the fashion business, so I came already as a child in contact with textiles and clothes.

C: When I started studying at Weissensee I was openminded. I just really liked surface design, colors and patterns. But then I got more and more interested in fashion, too. That was the time, when Doreen and me became friends. What I like on my work is that we can change our ideas from collection from collection. Each new collection is a new challenge.

Do you remember the first time – SS06 Photo: © Shoji Fujii

What are your backgrounds?

C: I am grown up in Berlin. I lived in Kreuzberg, Tiergarten and then Prenzlauer Berg. Doreen is from Thüringen, which is in east mid Germany, but she is living in Berlin since more than ten years.

Let’s talk a bit about Japan.

D: I was in Japan in 2005 during the ‘German Year’ in Japan. Tokyo was really nice. It was springtime, so we went to see some parks. In this sense it is similar to Berlin. It was quite calm in Tokyo. I expected it to be more stressful. I liked the side streets in Tokyo.

Do you like Japanese fashion design?

D: Of course! Yoji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake have done great work. By the way the Spring/Summer collection 2007 called local foreigner is a result of our contact with Japan. I was inspired by a obi (sash) used for kimono, which I found somewhere at a flee market.

Local foreigner – SS07 Photo: © Alex Kohout

What music do you like?

D: I love to go to concerts especially music with bands, like
indie-rock. I am not much in to electronic music. As a teenager I did a punk band! Anyway music is quite important for me and it is important for c.neeon for image building, especially on fashion shows. Our first collection was called ‘Daydream Nation’ which is the title of a album of sonic youth and we used a song by UK-indie-band Pulp.

Do you enjoy the art and music scene in Berlin?

D: I was at the opening of Jorinde Voigt. I liked her work. But usually we don’t have much time for going out a lot. But we enjoy the scene and we get inspired by people we meet during work.

How do you want c.neeon to develop in future?

D: We want to do more feminine fashion, but still keep our casual young image. But maybe a bit more grown-up: More elegance. We just finished our collection in March, so we rest a bit and look for new ideas. We have then our shows in September of course.