Jennifer Stellwag - Fachhochschule Bielefeld
DASH 89 – Fachhochschule Bielefeld
The master collection DASH 89 describes a dialogue between protection and vulnerability. It establishes a fundamental duality that arises from the natural human need for safety and security on the one hand, and the physical vulnerability of the human body on the other.
The collection engages with the subculture of the “Gravity Bikers” from Colombia, who improvise and build their vehicles themselves from found and exchanged materials, riding downhill at high speed without brakes. Relying solely on gravity, they reach speeds of up to 120 km/h and consciously expose themselves to extreme risk. This subculture serves as both a real-world parallel and a visual inspiration for the collection, translating the conflict described above into a visual and textile form.
Within the collection, the aesthetics and codes of motorsport are deconstructed and reinterpreted into garments for a fictional post-fossil era. In the design and development process, sustainable strategies such as upcycling and redesign were applied to various materials within the context of protection and vulnerability. Sustainability is thereby merged with a performative aesthetic.
The materials take on symbolic meaning. In this context, material used as a form of symbolic protection becomes an expression of sensitivity and awareness, gaining particular significance. The materiality illustrates the fragility of the human body and evokes the life-threatening rides of the “Gravity Bikers.” This work addresses the issue of increasing environmental strain caused by technological progress and the resulting acceleration of the world.
Jennifer Stellwag is a fashion designer who completed her Master’s degree at the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld in 2026. Her work focuses on an experimental approach to material, pattern cutting, and silhouette, with upcycling, redesign, and the deconstruction of existing archetypes as central methods. Her focus lies on experimental sportswear and streetwear within the menswear sector. She is particularly interested in real stories, lived subcultures, and their visual expressions, which serve as a starting point for her design process. A defining aspect of her work is the combination of opposites that at first glance do not seem to belong together: tradition and future, robustness and fragility, or technical and organic materials. She translates these tensions into both material compositions and pattern construction.
Credits:
Fotografie: Rene Weinschke
Assistent und Videografie: Nils Lauhoff
Models:Tim Rüßmann, Remzi Ertug