Marie Lueder is creating armoured fashion for your mental fortress

As is the assumption when meeting a new person in a somewhat professional capacity, I extend a hand to greet Marie Lueder, right before she leaps towards me for a surprise, open-armed hug. “I’m sorry, I’m so nervous”, she says as we pull apart, “and when I’m nervous I want to hug everybody!” Despite the admission of anxiousness, the German designer feels generally quite calm, if not a little fidgety, but who can blame her – we are 45 minutes out from her first ever catwalk show.

The designer’s eponymous label LUEDER was founded in 2019, a miscellanea of conceptual casualwear with a medieval bent, combining conical hoods and metal amulets with upcycled tees and swelling panelled bombers. Its main philosophy is one of “mental armour”, making clothing that resemble helmets and sheaths in a bid to bring the mental health conversation into fashion. “It’s the idea of armour or protecting yourself, but being vulnerable,” says the designer about her battle-ready clothes.

Before the label’s launch, Lueder studied at London’s Royal College of Art, counting Saul Nash and Sinéad O’Dwyer as fellow alumni, and has since shown presentations in both Paris and London. But for her first runway presentation, Lueder made the decision to head to Berlin Fashion Week, setting up in the vast expanse of an old Mercedes-Benz showroom.

The show was somewhat of a homecoming for the London-based Lueder. “A lot of my friends are here,” she tells me. “I have a foundation here… my dad is working on this production”. For the show, called MONO-MYTH, the designer wanted to focus on “the hero’s journey”, of starting something new, coming into challenges along the way, and then moving on and finding your footing by the end. “It’s about trying to find a way to look into the future in a not so doomed way.” The collection on the runway reflected this too, as Lueder’s hero began with structured, sweaters and monochromatic fits, loosening up with a series of dyed vests and graphic prints, before achieving confidence with abstract knits and loose, flowing jersey. “He’s moving on or changing pathways,” adds Lueder, “so it’s about this constant lifecycle, in a way.”

While perusing her board backstage, one particular outfit the designer seemed drawn toward was look number five, her LUEDER take on the humble suit. Constructed in a grey jersey material, rather than separates the outfit came as a one piece with an open bottom, resembling a skirt more than trousers. “As a boss, a business owner, a creative director, I have to represent something,” the designer explained. “For me, the suit was always the thing I put on when I have to perform, but in a way I don’t like this, because it comes from patriarchal tropes and I just don’t want to do that anymore.” So, instead, this creation materialised, one the designer says is “more like a shell suit – more like an idea – like a lab coat that you put on. Like ‘I want to dress up but I don’t know what to wear, so I just put this on and I’m fine.’”

But where does this supposed rebellion against the suit come from? Looking at LUEDER’S Middle Age casuals, you might be surprised to learn that, before her stint at RCA, Lueder worked as a professional tailor at Hamburg’s Opera. “My old professor always said ‘I’m happy you’re not ruined from it,’” she says with a laugh, remembering her time at the storied building. “But I’ve had a problem since working there,” she continues, adding that “I definitely am in awe of the suit. I did it in such a traditional way that I don’t want to make a designer suit [now]. But I still want to kind of find my own way to it.” So rather than just a rebellion against the form, Lueder’s lab-coat-cum-dress is also a manifestation of her absolute reverence for the suit. Having perfected it to such a degree in an institutional setting, its almost like it can’t form fully in her mind after that. “Here, I’m saying, ‘I don’t know how to make the suit.’ I don’t know yet. I’m going there slowly, and this is how far I’ve come.’

Looking forward, Lueder is excited to be showing in Berlin for the first time, and what this environment will bring to her brand. But as much as the choice is based in the city’s budding fashion cred, like most young brands, the decision is also financial. “The support we got was much bigger than I expected, or than I could get from somewhere else right now,” she adds, and this new kind of access has opened up her view of what she can achieve here. “Before, Berlin was like, ‘okay, I let my hair down, I party, and I leave destroyed.’ And I couldn't see myself finding enough – it sounds so bad – but enough energy to do this quite hard job, which needs so much passion. And I think that’s changed a lot.” Lueder then lists fellow designers and friends Sia Arnika and Lou de Betoly as architects of this change, along with Fashion Council Germany and the “amazing agencies” that have cropped up. “There is a lot of potential,” she says, hopefully, “and, at the moment, a lot of things happening.” Just as those words hit the air, an assistant miced up with a headset taps Lueder on the shoulder, grabbing her for some last second styling tweaks. There’s a lot of things happening, and Marie Lueder seems to be at the centre of it all.