- [Narrator] Do you
recognize these outfits?
They all have one thing in common:
(steady post-punk music)
Bauhaus.
Yes, they all take inspiration
from a 1920s design movement
which originated in Germany.
This is how block
buildings affected fashion.
Bauhaus: translated from
German as building house.
It started as a school in Weimar, Germany,
and it gave birth to buildings like this.
The lack of ornaments
and push for clean lines
affected other spheres of art,
such as ballet,
and fashion.
Almost 100 years later,
these influences still
permeate the fashion realm.
- I'm Anne Gorke and
I'm a fashion designer
following Bauhaus aesthetics in my work.
- [Narrator] Despite their differences,
both approaches have the basic features
of Bauhaus in common.
- [Anne] One is the very expressive way,
and probably also the most known,
comes from the Triadische Ballet.
And it got famous from David Bowie,
and then Lady Gaga.
The other side, though, is my
way of approaching to fashion
is more aesthetically more silent way:
very straight silhouettes,
straight lines, symmetric lines.
- [Narrator] Despite their differences,
both approaches have the basic features
of Bauhaus in common.
The geometric shapes
and lines, the colors,
and a need for collaboration.
All present in the initial
Bauhaus school of the 1920s,
and in its initial
architectural constructions.
- [Anne] While working
or doing my collections
I learned more and more that
I had a strong connection
to my upbringing in Weimar
and my studies at Bauhaus University.
I think what mostly shaped me was
to grow up and to live
within these buildings,
like the campus and the
Van-de-Velde-Building,
you see all these great
shapes and clean lines.
Simple construction but, so powerful.
There's sort of a spirit here.
- [Narrator] And while
its origins may be German,
Bauhaus is present in
catwalks all over the world.
- [Anne] Yves Saint Laurent did that
with the Mondrian collection,
the Mondrian dresses.
And recently Alexander Wang did, too,
and had some very obvious visual
references to the Bauhaus.
It's more than just an art form,
it's an understanding of living
and there are so many movements
that came afterwards
that reference to that.
Because it's timeless.
