Even as art-school classmates in Berlin, Eugenie Schmidt and Mariko Takahashi shared a fascination for people and what they wore. The kindred spirits soon launched Schmidttakahashi, a fashion label that explores the fragile concept of identity by piecing castoffs in radical new ways. Each piece in their “Reanimation” collection comes with a Quick Response (or “QR”) code that unites the garment’s past, present, and future. Scanning an item’s barcode with a smartphone doesn’t just unlock information about its former life, but it also allows the wearer to contribute to its ongoing narrative.

Schmidttakahashi Concept:

“Identity Swapping”

It’s a curious and fascinating experience to slip into the external “skin” of another person. Even if the clothes are mass produced for an unknown number of consumers, each piece is affected by the individual as soon as it ends up in a the hands of that particular person. It is no longer an anonymous object. It stores aesthetic information unique to it’s owner including things like body shape, smell, posture, attitude and lifestyle. As we clothe the exterior of others, we perceive these elements directly from inside. This little experiment was the beginning of our project. “Reanimation / Wiederbelebungsmassnahmen”.