On July 4th, 2026, Milk of Lime made a highly anticipated return to Berlin Fashion Week after winning this season’s Berlin Contemporary contest. Staging their fourth runway presentation, titled ASHES, the Belgo-German design duo delivered a sentient and romantically dark Spring/Summer 2027 collection. The atmosphere was underscored by a live drone-like soundtrack composed by Belgian musician Innerwoud, who filled the space with the ethereal, resonant sounds of his double bass.
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All photos by Shin Jeong Hoon
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The collection, developed by founders Julia Ballardt and Nico Verhaegen, carefully navigated the dualities implicit in its title. Themes of destruction and endings were balanced against notions of soil fertility, rebirth, and immediate recovery. This concept dictated a meticulous colour palette composed of varying hues of grey in silks and wools, deep blacks, earth tones, ashy mauves, and targeted bursts of phosphoric red. True to the label’s established “rural punk” aesthetic, romanticism and darkness coexisted to invite a deeper examination of the garments’ structural layers.
The technical execution of the mixed collection was defined by draped menswear, wrapping traditional workwear jackets into charcoal-toned outerwear, and trousers that fused sharp pleats with lowered crotches. Innovation in knitwear appeared in ripped silk fabrics re-tied into long ribbons and knitted into voluminous, lightweight surfaces, leaving loose threads trailing behind the moving silhouettes like smoke. Lightness was further explored through feathered “polka dots” veiled beneath black mesh to resemble patches of cinder, alongside Fortuny-esque crinkled silk shirts that were tied while damp. Bold graphics cut across cotton tops, coats, and transparent silks using varied printing techniques, anchored by five distinct footwear styles developed with collaborator Prime Boots.
Leather accessories maintained a core position in the lineup, focusing this season on the raw edges of heavy belt leathers juxtaposed against minimal silver dot closures. Large, slouchy handbags were accompanied by specialised leather cases holding classic pencils—a nod to manual writing that tied directly into the Milk of Lime Tribune, a custom newspaper distributed on-site featuring poetry and prose from contributing authors. The ritualistic theme extended to asymmetric jewellery pieces incorporating smoky quartz, black tourmaline, and raw or half-charred palo santo pearls that released a subtle scent up close. Moving forward from their roots at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Milk of Lime continues to utilise its provincial base in southwest Germany to maintain a strict focus on local craftsmanship and natural materials.
Documenting the poetic, dark-hued presentation from an intimate perspective, photographer Shin Jeong Hoon was backstage to capture the collection. His backstage photography provides a precise look at the raw material textures, the complex silk-knit structures, and the detailed jewellery pieces, offering a comprehensive view of one of the most intellectually grounded highlights of the Berlin circuit.
