Lou De Bètoly is exactly what it sounds like. The brand takes its name from its creator, Odély Teboul, perfectly deconstructed. The same logic applies to the garments. Everyone loves to watch up close, very few can actually pull them off, and they tend to look better than everyone else. At least, they did on day two of Berlin Fashion Week.
Teboul is a French creative that understood fashion from the age of five. And by “understood”, I mean full-on cross-stitch embroidery, crochet, and knitting. She later studied fashion in Paris, one of the many perks of being French, and eventually found herself working in studios bearing Jean Paul Gaultier’s name, bringing her craft to knitwear and haute couture embroidery. Berlin, however, is where she found her footing, in case you couldn’t already tell. Luckily, the clothes carry the same sense of contradiction.
The collection she presented at Rathaus Schöneberg, under Tim Heyduck’s creative direction and styling, felt constructed for a persona living a double life. Front row at Paris Haute Couture Week one moment, chandeliers, whispered critiques, air-kissed greetings, old-world ateliers, then, hours later, swallowed by Berghain’s post-industrial cathedral, bodies blurring into one another, and bass and anonymity replacing polite chit-chat. If anything, the location made the contrast feel sharper rather than softened. It was a town hall, after all.
Underwear, vintage textiles, lace, yarn, body-contouring dresses, Hunkemöller, even a box of 740 buttons from the 90s, all had a special place in this season’s lineup. Bras were stitched together in unexpected ways, sometimes as knee-cups, sometimes as peplums, sometimes as high-necked collars. Patterns clashed, florals mixed and matched down the runway, lace and feathers perched atop heads, gloves adorned hands, and when none were present, Teboul made sure two fingers were swathed in black material. The show had everything. Handmade skirts, corsets, bodysuits, pants, dresses, jackets, yet nothing looked familiar, every detail was pure Lou De Bètoly. Let’s see which lucky A-listers get to pick and choose this time.
