Fashion designer: Wolfgang Joop looks back with “contradiction”.

Designer, draftsman, painter, author – all-rounder Wolfgang Joop (78) will show his life’s work next year in Potsdam. Shortly before his 80th birthday in November 2024, the exhibition entitled “Contradiction” will open. The show, which lasts several months, is intended to show the versatility of Joop’s life and work, who has long since not only created fashion.

Joop said in Potsdam on Tuesday that he wanted to be an ambassador for his beloved hometown. “I’m at an age where I have to look backwards,” said Joop. “I feel like I’ve come to a point where the picture is complete.” In the title of his retrospective, the designer said he thinks contradictions are important in order to question oneself. Fashion is just a part of his life. He also created sculptures and paintings and wrote five books. Joop is currently working on sustainable fashion made from biomaterials, among other things.

The graphic work Joops will be the common thread of the exhibition design, said curator Hendrikje Warmt from the Potsdam Museum. In addition, Joop’s fashion will be shown in videos. But sculptures and a picture that he gave to his father when he was young are also included in the show, as Joop revealed. “At first I thought I would become a painter.”

Joop, who was also a juror on “Germany’s Next Top Model”, lives with his partner on an estate in Potsdam-Bornstedt. “I have the feeling of having lived a great life, which was also very much influenced by the first few years that I spent here.” Joop also spends a few months a year in his finca on Ibiza. Looking ahead to the milestone birthday next year, he said: “I feel way too young to be 80.”