A few seasons ago, Bernhard Willhelm's mens' presentation in Paris was shut down because the plumes of coloured smoke he set off, along with blaring air raid siren, caused a commotion in the Marais. Willhelm is a designer who, since establishing his label in 1999 likes to play – and it remains. Over the years we’ve had everything from day-glo dinosaur prints to a collection dedicated to the American flag, a half-asleep/half-dead blissful SS13 menswear showcase and a lookbook where porn star François Sagat was his muse. For his SS13 womenswear, Willhelm has once again worked his magic, collaborating with director and 3D animator Geoffrey Lillemon on a pulsating, animated series of gifs – ripe for spreading virally and cheating death by seeding his legacy everywhere. Dazed Digital showcases the looks here, and caught up with Bernhard to learn more, getting recommended a WTF YouTube of outdoor Dysoning in the process.

   

   


Dazed Digital: What inspired your collection this season?
Bernhard Willhelm: Viral vacuums. I love sex and I love making love. I am clever, employed, well-read, opinionated, single and my mom constantly assures me, despite the horrendous photos, that I am irresistible. Just recently, I decided that I will not die, so it is inevitable too that I will realise my dream which is to be an ex-asshole and to be a rich contented bum. If you like what you see bernhard-willhelm.com

DD: Can you tell us about working on the gifs?
Bernhard Willhelm: We worked with 2D and 3D tricks: the model is photographed several times with the camera moving, then we set flickering of all frames, afterwards we created animated heads with a face scanner and morphed them with the pictures.

DD: What’s the best gif you've ever seen?
Bernhard Willhelm: Wendy Vanity’s Viral Vacuum


DD: After checking out your gifs on Dazed Digital, what else are you going to look at?
Bernhard Willhelm: Auction houses like Quittenbaum.de, Dorotheum.at or Drout.fr. I am looking for an old master!

   

   
 

CREDITS:
DIRECTOR AND 3D ANIMATION Geoffrey Lillemon
PHOTOGRAPHY Petrovsky and Ramone
STYLING Niki Pauls
LEAD PRODUCER Valtteri Laihanen, Random Studio
INTERACTIVE DEVELOPMENT Hugo Dechesne, Random Studio