Günter Rubitzsch Reihenfolge der Bücher (Chronologisch)

East Germany may be most remembered for the activities of the Stasi, but now, for the first time, its secret short flirtation with fashion is revealed. For a short period the notoriously repressive bureaucrats who ran East Germany decided to bring some color into their otherwise drab lives. They commissioned two photographers, hired St. Pauli Girls as models, and chose the locations that represented their greatest socialist achievements—oil refineries, worker canteens, concrete office buildings, airports—to shoot their daring photographs. The result: cunning and original uses for tartan, little hats and jaunty caps, bold florals, and more swatches of pumpkin, tomato, and lemon yellow than you might find at a country fair. For years, these alarming examples of a zeitgeist unleashed have been hidden from Western eyes…but not anymore From blindingly-bright mod go-go girls to demure peasant lasses posed with that most German of animals, the Llama, these images reveal another side of what went on behind the Berlin Wall.

For a vague period somewhere in the 1970s the notoriously repressive bureaucrats who ran the Deutsche Demokratische Republik dedicated to bring some colour to their otherwise drab lives. A cuninng and original use of tartan? We have it. A little hat giving madam that indefinable flight hostess air? Check. And the chic Herr is not far behind with his jaunty cap. The DDR commissioned two photographs, Gunter Rubitzsh and Staube (he/she only used the one name), hired St Pauli Girl models, chose the locations that most inspired them - oil factories, worker canteens, concrete office blocks - and set about creating their own unique and daring style. From blindingly bright mod go-go girls to demure country peasant girls posed with that most German of animals, the llama, these images run counter to everything we imagined went on behind the Berlin Wall. Was it intended as propaganda? A move to counter bourgeois Western values? Aspirational worker wear? We'll never know. What is certain, though, is that what was produced in earnest is now a catagloue of camp that its creators never intended. Until recently, these alarming examples of a zeitgeist unleashed have been unearthed and are offered to the world in Off the Wall.