photo by Finnegan Koichi GodenschwegerLast week, amidst the buzz of Berlin Fashion Week, MICHAEL SONTAG unveiled his latest collection, ASSEMBLY 31, during a captivating performative presentation at RAUM by Fashion Council Germany. This collection emerges as a testament to transformation, with garments fluidly shifting between models, a choreographed dance that epitomises the seamlessness ingrained in the very fabric of each piece.
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lookbook photos by @ansgar_sollmann
Feature image by @godenschweger_
Sontag’s collection whispers through shape, material, and the quiet insistence of form, unveiling a living narrative that breathes alongside the movement of bodies and shifting lights within the performance space. Each piece lingers in the mind’s eye, fragmenting into whispers of its own creation, a dialogue that dances between surface and shadow, weight and air.
Crafted through intuitive and abstract gestures, the silhouettes drift and settle into softly androgynous forms, lightly tethered yet defiantly unbound. Knits, feathered with palpable tactility, float playfully in a spectrum of colours, while contrasting materials punctuate the collection with deliberate tension. Leather weaves through the expansive volume, not as a statement, but as a counterpoint, allowing fragility and strength to coexist harmoniously. The essence of the collection is both mischievous and meticulous, playful yet deliberate, patterned yet meandering.
Time is woven into each stitch and the fall of fabric, manifesting in the deliberate pauses of construction and the quiet insistence of materiality. Sontag draws presence not from mere spectacle but from the care, attention, and patience embedded in his craftsmanship. An exquisite balance is achieved, softness against strength, intuition against structure, movement against stillness, existing not as a resolved outcome, but as a coexistence inviting reflection and quiet communion with the seen and the unsaid.
In Sontag’s vision, this body of work transcends the label of “collection.” He perceives his creations as a continuum, where seasonal transitions build upon one another. His presentations serve as snapshots, vivid and fluid, eschewing the constraints of static definitions. Through this unique lens, Sontag aspires to blur the traditional boundaries of fashion, divorcing his artistry from the conventions of seasons, trends, and consumer demographics. The clarity of his designs emerges as a powerful testament to this philosophy, as creations that have never been sketched find life through his masterful draping on the mannequins of his vision.
