Who wears what on the red carpet? At the Oscar Gala, the guests’ outfits are in the spotlight. Wim Wenders’ wife recycles the director’s old films – for a robe made from magnetic tapes.
When Wim Wenders strolls down the red carpet with his wife on Sunday, several videotapes of his old films are shown – woven into an evening dress. That was the idea of the designer Mira von der Osten, founder of the Berlin label Cruba, reveals Donata Wenders in the dpa interview. At the reception of German Films, the foreign representation of German films, in a restaurant in Los Angeles, she raved about her original Oscar outfit.
The designer suggested that she knit a dress out of old VHS tapes of Wim’s films. They then selected tapes of the films “Paris, Texas” (1984), “Tokyo-Ga” (1985) and “The Sky Over Berlin” (1987), says the 58-year-old photographer.
Completely sustainable
The floor-length, sleeveless dress is practically made from old magnetic tape and is therefore completely sustainable, says Donata Wenders. In addition, the material fits perfectly with Wenders’ nominated film “Perfect Days”, with which the German director is competing in the “International Film” category for Japan.
The meditative feature film revolves around a man named Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), who cleans toilets in Tokyo, loves books and old music cassettes and is content with his simple life. Video and music cassettes contain the same material, only VHS magnetic tapes are wider.
Wim Wenders relies on Yamamoto
Wenders said he was immediately drawn to disposing of the old cassettes in this way. “Who else wants that? I think it’s wonderful that something is finally being done with the stuff,” the director tells dpa. He was always ashamed of the quality of these old VHS cassettes. “And now finally a wonderful way to recycle them by knitting with them,” says Wenders happily. But he himself won’t wear a knitted suit. Her husband is dressed by the Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, says Donata Wenders.
The trophies will be awarded on Monday night. The couple will walk the Oscar carpet for the fourth time at the 96th Academy Awards. The director had been nominated three times before, but always came away empty-handed: in 2000 with the musician documentary “Buena Vista Social Club,” in 2012 with the 3D dance film “Pina” about Pina Bausch and in 2015 with the documentary “The Salt of the Earth.” about the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado.
Will he make it on the fourth attempt? “I think I’ll be surprised if he wins. And I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t win,” says Donata Wenders diplomatically. With “Perfect Days” the German entry “The Teacher’s Room” by director Ilker Çatak and the British drama “The Zone of Interest” by director Jonathan Glazer with the German actors Christian Friedel and Sandra Hülser are in the running.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
