The Tamesis
When you’re a designer, you never know when inspiration will strike. Take Johann Ehrhardt of Hardlemp, for example. Little did he realize that his fall 2026 collection was already falling into place when he agreed to help a friend move to Leberstraße 65 in Berlin’s Schöneberg neighborhood. As far as Berlin goes, this is a very iconic address: the birthplace of Marlene Dietrich. “I stood in front of the building and thought, ‘This is great,'” Earhart recalled. “I was taking pictures all over the house. Then I thought about all the friends I had who were actors and dancers, and I started thinking about how to get them to be part of the show.”
Which explains why he said all this backstage at the Wintergarten Variete Theatre, another iconic venue created by Dietrich, who performed in Berlin in the 1920s when the city, the country and even the world danced on the edge of a volcano. So, come fall 2026, Dietrich — androgynous, well-tailored, glamorous — will be more or less present in it: accentuated shoulders, nipped-in waists, cuts that flow down the legs, and the swagger of a dramatic long coat — all ultimately shaped by actors and dancers and about four or five staff members of the theater itself. (To emphasize the night’s performance feel, Earhart brought in musician John Carlson to perform a real behind-the-scenes soundtrack, and he gave a dreamy, atmospheric mix of acoustic grand piano and electronic beats.)
Earhart’s real idea, however, was to make Hardramp more mature, not streetwise; to strike a different note, a new rhythm. “We had to try something different,” he said, “because otherwise, it would become boring: the same style, the same silhouette. Also, we have a new store in Berlin opening in December, which made me want to make everything with a clean aesthetic; we could invest in our tailoring philosophy.”
To be honest, it feels like it’s been a while since Ehrhardt went from gritty to charismatic, but this series definitely struck a more mature tone, especially since he switched from his usual urban swashbuckler style for theater red velvet pampering. But it was reflected in his clothes, too, from leather jackets that were slightly distressed but still had a sheen to them, to pinstriped suits where the lines warped and twisted around the body (v. Marlene), to the exposed lace on many of the men’s pieces, while the women’s pieces sparkled and sparkled.
