Life On The Road

Clemens en August is a unique, touring concept store. The chic, minimalist collection is sold on tour twice a year in select contemporary art galleries and museums around the world. The roving retail company with a minimalist aesthetic has a travel calendar that reads like a famous rock band's tour stops, and features a roll call of the world's most avant-garde galleries and museums. This list includes KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, the ICA in London, Munich's Haus der Kunst, Chelsea Art Museum in NYC, Vienna's MAK, Hauser & Wirth in Zurich—which house Clemens en August for each brief, seasonal stay.

With these selling tours, designer Alexander Brenninkmeijer—who also helped build the Kostas Murkudis label—pays homage to the tradition of his ancestors. He was inspired by Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer, who traveled the Dutch countryside by foot 160-years-ago, selling high quality fabrics to the wealthy landowners who didn't have time to go into the cities themselves.

The current travel schedule is dictated by the international art calendar rather than the fashion calendar: the trip to London coincided with the Frieze Art Fair, and other stops overlap with the Armory Show in NYC and the Berlin Biennale. Clemens en August also collaborates with well known artists in the respective tour cities. For instance, during their recent stop in Tokyo at Roppongi's Zel Gallery, they collaborated with renowned fashion illustrator Przemek Sobocki, and they also paired up with Thomas Bayrle, whose Clemens en August art installation was on show at Miami's Art Basel and London's Frieze.

Inspiration for the autumn/winter '08 collection comes from the volume and functionality of the life vest. The reference is found in silk, cotton and jersey dresses for women featuring re-worked life vest clips as fasteners, while the menswear features removable, quilted lapels and collars on suits, shirts and jersey tees. The range of items may constantly vary, but this is one transient fashion show you don't want to miss.

—Kristina Dryza