Wolfgang Joop

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Wolfgang Joop

Wolfgang Joop (born November 18, 1944 in Potsdam, Germany) is an internationally successful German fashion designer. He is the incorporator of the fashion and cosmetics company JOOP! and is considered along with Karl Lagerfeld and Jil Sander to be a leading German figure in this industry.

1 Early life
2 JOOP!
3 Other activities
4 Private Life
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early life

After completing his Abitur at the Wilhelm-Gymnasium high school in Braunschweig, Joop began to study advertising psychology in Braunschweig at the insistence of his father. He was not interested in this course of study, and did not complete it. He next worked as a restauranteur and got involved in art. In 1968 he started formal studies of art, which he never completed.

Joop's career began in 1970, when he and his then wife Karin participated in fashion competition sponsored by the German magazine Constance and won the three top prizes. Following this success Joop because a fashion editor at the women's magazine Neue Mode. He left this job in 1971 to work independently, among other things as a freelance journalist and designer.

Joop achieved international success in 1978, when he showed his first fur collection, which the New York Times, among other publications, honored as "Prussian Designer."

[edit] JOOP!

In early 1982 Joop showed his first prêt-à-porter women's collection, followed by his first men's collection in 1985. Two years later, with the showing of his first perfume collection, he made his name a trademark, with capital letters to symbolize energy along with an exclamation mark. Clothes, shoes, jewelry, eyeglasses and perfume were immediately available under this mark. The "JOOP!" mark became available for licensing, and Joop's company no longer produced any of its own goods for sale.

In 1983, Joop was honored with the Fil d'or, a major design award. In 1984 he received the Golden spinning wheel from the European Silk Commission.

In 1985 Joop took a position as a guest lecturer in Design at the Berliner Hochschule der Künste. In 1987, that institution awarded him an honorary professorship. He later taught the seminar "Fur Fashion with Accessories."

Following German reunification, Joop was the first Western designer to work with the Meissener porcelain company, for which he designed a service.

Since 1997, Joop's products have been sold through Joop GmbH.

In 1998 Joop sold 95% of his JOOP! shares to an investor and in 2001 he sold the remaining 5%.

Two Years before, in 1999 he established the lable Wunderkind Art which had its international debut in September 2004 when Joop introduced his new Wunderkind collection in New York.

[edit] Other activities

Joop has diverse interests and is involved in many activities beyond fashion and design, including illustration. Over 100 of his works are on show at the Hamburger Museum für Kunst in Hamburg. Joop also collects art, particularly contemporary pictures and sculptures as well as furniture.

In 2000 Joop played a leading role in the satire Suck My Dick.

Joop has written various books and many articles for newspapers and magazines, including Der Spiegel, Stern and Welt am Sonntag. His books include the gift book Das kleine Herz (2001), the cookbook Hectic Cuisine (2002), the autobiography Stillstand des Flüchtigen (2002) and the novel Im Wolfspelz (2003). He does not use a computer for his writing, instead preparing his manuscripts by hand.

Joop supports the Dunkelziffer e.V. organization for sexually abused children, and the Hamburg Leuchtfeuer organization for people with AIDS.

Joop was criticized for comments that he made regarding the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which he referred to the twin towers as symbols of "capitalist arrogance."^[1]

In an interview broadcasted by the German TV channel RTL on February 2nd in 2006, Joop stated his controversial opinion towards thin and anorexic models: "We are living in a world of total consumption, where consumption reigns. We are not living in the church, where moral standards reign. In every world reigned by consumption, there are victims. We have to accept this. Just how many traffic deaths are there? Is that a reason to abolish traffic?"

[edit] Private Life

Joop married art student Karin Benatzky in 1970; the two are now divorced. He has two daughters: fashion and jewelry designer Jette Joop and Florentine Joop.

Joop, who labels himself as cosmopolitan, has a home in Monte Carlo, a penthouse in New York and two villas in his hometown of Potsdam, where he has lived since 1998 after years living in Hamburg.

Since splitting from his wife, Joop has been living in a same-sex partnership.