The Raconteur

“The story is about a journalist living in New York City, who gets involved with criminal activities. But by struggling to get out, he just runs deeper into imbroglio.” Intrigued by the Film Noir genre, Homann explores and creates characters from the 1940’s, tailoring the garments specifically to their needs and usually to assist their criminal activities.

Having written the uncompleted novel herself, she used the journalist as her main character, resulting in her favourite pieces being designed especially for him. “The black coat shows his dark but very strong side. It also gives him the opportunity to hide. He’s not really himself any more because he is barely visible in this coat.”

‘SCHATTENSTADT’ encompasses what Homann is trying to establish through her menswear label, dyn. Having explored an underlying narrative, Homann was able to also explore who she believed was the ‘dyn man’. “I think the typical dyn customer is definitely self-confident because most of the pieces I create are more or less special. But since I don’t use loud colours, expressive prints or large labels, my fashion is not to show off but rather an understatement.”

The predominantly black and grey-toned collection includes staple pieces; knotted knitwear, tailoring in the form of slouched trousers and shirting, as well as leather accessories, but Homann will always continue to alter the staples to fit the character she has in mind at the time.

The designer, who is continuing her masters degree in Berlin hopes to continue working on future collections under the dyn label and finish her novel during the winter months. However when asked if she’d ever be a character within one her own stories the designer replied, “I’d rather see myself behind the scenes, so I would probably be the catering girl.” Surely that’s a whole new novel in itself.