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Milk of Lime

From The Fashion Codex


Milk of Lime
Established 2022
Years Active 2022-present
Parent Company Independent
Website https://www.milk-of-lime.com/

Milk of Lime is a demi-couture fashion brand founded in 2022 by Julia Ballardt and Nico Verhaegen. Based in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, South West Germany, it is known for its contemporary garments and usage of deadstock fabrics, and recycled materials. Milk of Lime is built on the human relationship to nature.[1]

Background

By using recycled materials, deadstock fabrics and more, the brand has an extremely sustainable identity. With their main materials being or organic origin, they greatly value the products longevity, the wearers comfort, their health, and our planet's long-term well being.[2] The only synthetic material you'll find in their clothes, is the woven label on the back.[3] The brand also creates bespoke and on-demand production pieces to combat overproduction.[4]

Milk of Lime currently only does one collection per year but does regular drops during full-moon following the moon calendar rather than the fashion calendar.[5][6]

History

Julia Ballardt and Nico Verhagen both met at the Royal Academy of Fine Art of Antwerp, which they both attended. After graduation, they did their internships at Givenchy, before establishing the brand, Milk of Lime.[7] Their internships took place during the COVID pandemic, where they felt the urge to create something on their own: "So, it was never like this big dream for us to have a label together, but because of all these pressing circumstances, we were like, Oh, maybe this is a good moment? Should we not try something?".[8]

The name, which is a chemical substance (calcium hydroxide), is an agent used in the leather tanning process. As both designers work with leather, they wanted to name the brand after something related to the process.[9]

The brand has collaborated with artist Jeroen van den Bogaert for their SS25 collection, as well as make-up brand Ellis Faas.[10][11]

Verhaegen also runs the meme account, @antwerpmemedepartment, on Instagram.[12]

Style

The brand is known for using rare fabrics, and consistently uses leather in their products. Most of the leather used is "rescued" leftover leather from different manufacturers.[13] The brand consistently use natural materials such as silk, wool, and cotton, as it reflects their personal wardrobe choices.[14] The brand is also a frequent user of dead stock fabrics both for financial reasons, and sometimes falling in love with hidden gems.[15]

As the duo lives in a smaller town, a lot of their inspirations comes from rot, decay, and wilting, which is easier to find where they are currently located according to them.[16] The wilted flowers is a constant analogy brought up by Ballardt: “Oh yeah, this is rotten, this is done, throw it away. But the poetic person will see colours in it." [17] Which is a summary of what they believe, is the brand's target customer.

Themes

Aside from the brand being heavily influenced by nature, both Ballardt and Verhaegen are constant punk concert attendees. With some of their t-shirts being literal band t-shirts.[18]

Motifs

The brand's logo consists of a fly. The fly was a part of Ballardt's Master collection, she made a dress about "A day at the lake" where a fly was sitting on the back. Flies can also sit anywhere, which means a logo placement of a fly will never look out of place on any garment regardless of its placement.

Notable Products

Whilst preparing for their showing of Current, they asked Dutch make-up brand, Ellis Faas, if they could use their make-up for the show. Due to Ellis Faas make-up looking like bullets, Milk of Lime created pen-holders that would be able to hold the make-up pens. The pen-holder has a loop which can be attached to a belt or similar, in order to turn the pens into wearable accessories.[10][19]

Collections

Milk of Lime shows at Berlin Fashion Week, and they have a showroom at Paris Fashion Week.[20]

Title Season Date Location Looks Notes
N/A 6 "Debut" capsule collection
Dozen SS24 Berlin, Germany 20 Full debut collection
Current SS25 Berlin, Germany 21 Collaboration with artist and designer, Jeroen van den Bogaert. The theme of the collection was 'weather'.
Chime SS26 Berlin, Germany 19 Their third-ever runway show was built around the sound of soft, songlike ringing in the wind.[21]

Creative Directors

Name Tenure
Julia Ballardt & Nico Verhaegen 2022-present
Add creative directors and their tenure here.

CEOs

Name Tenure
Julia Ballardt & Nico Verhaegen 2022-present
Add CEOs and their tenure here.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.neworderoffashion.com/talents/talent-talks-milk-of-lime#:~:text=Milk%20of%20Lime%20is%20built%20on%20our%20human%20relationship%20to%20nature%20and%20collaborative%20craftsmanship
  2. ↑ https://www.milk-of-lime.com/approach/#:~:text=As%20designers%20we,term%20well%2Dbeing.
  3. ↑ https://www.milk-of-lime.com/approach/#:~:text=To%20contradict%20this%20statement%20immediately%3A%20The%20only%20synthetic%20material%20you%20will%20find%20in%20our%20garments%2C%20is%20the%20woven%20label%20in%20the%20back.
  4. ↑ https://www.milk-of-lime.com/approach/#:~:text=ON%20DEMAND%20MANUFACTURING-,Bespoke%20as%20a%20sustainable%20approach%20is%20a%20daring%20proposition%20within%20a,and%20respect%20our%20resources%20and%20environment%20as%20much%20as%20we%20can.,-ARTISANS
  5. ↑ https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/milk-of-lime#:~:text=It%E2%80%99s%20also%20why,another%20summer%20collection.
  6. ↑ https://www.glamcult.com/articles/glamcult-meets-milk-of-lime/#:~:text=Julia%3A%20We%20needed,to%20create%20frequently.
  7. ↑ https://enfntsterribles.com/milk-of-lime-special-in-conversation-with-designers-julia-ballardt-and-nico-verhaegen/#:~:text=Julia%20Ballardt%20and%20Nico%20Verhaegen%20met%20at%20the%20Royal%20Academy,couple%20launched%20Milk%20of%20Lime.
  8. ↑ https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/milk-of-lime#:~:text=So%2C%20it%20was%20never%20like%20this%20big%20dream%20for%20us%20to%20have%20a%20label%20together%2C%20but%20because%20of%20all%20these%20pressing%20circumstances%2C%20we%20were%20like%2C%20Oh%2C%20maybe%20this%20is%20a%20good%20moment%3F%20Should%20we%20not%20try%20something%3F
  9. ↑ https://enfntsterribles.com/milk-of-lime-special-in-conversation-with-designers-julia-ballardt-and-nico-verhaegen/#:~:text=Milk%20of%20lime%20(calcium%20hydroxide)%20is%20an%20agent%20used%20in%20the%20leather%20tanning%20process.%20We%20are%20both%20people%20who%20work%20from%20the%20material%2C%20so%20we%20wanted%20to%20name%20the%20brand%20after%20something%20related%20to%20the%20process.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 https://enfntsterribles.com/milk-of-lime-special-in-conversation-with-designers-julia-ballardt-and-nico-verhaegen/#:~:text=We%20collaborated%20with,like%20a%20poem.
  11. ↑ https://www.patreon.com/posts/extended-milk-of-115566884
  12. ↑ https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/milk-of-lime#:~:text=Okay%2C%20speaking%20of,honest%20and%20poetic.
  13. ↑ https://www.milk-of-lime.com/approach/#:~:text=Due%20to%20its%20beautiful%20properties%2C%20we%20strive%20to%20rescue%20leather%20scraps%20from%20several%20manufacturers%20and%20reduce%20the%20industry%E2%80%99s%20heavy%20environmental%20footprint.
  14. ↑ https://enfntsterribles.com/milk-of-lime-special-in-conversation-with-designers-julia-ballardt-and-nico-verhaegen/#:~:text=Julia%3A%20We%20prefer,or%20ten%20years.
  15. ↑ https://enfntsterribles.com/milk-of-lime-special-in-conversation-with-designers-julia-ballardt-and-nico-verhaegen/#:~:text=Nico%3A%20We%20work%20with%20deadstock%20fabrics%20a%20lot.%20You%20have%20this%20thing%20of%20finding%20a%20material%2C%20falling%20in%20love%20with%20it%2C%20but%20there%20is%2C%20of%20course%2C%20the%20financial%20aspect%20and%20what%20is%20possible%20within%20the%20means%20we%20have%20and%20where%20we%20stand%20as%20a%20business.%20But%20that%E2%80%99s%20the%20boring%20part%20of%20the%20process.
  16. ↑ https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/milk-of-lime#:~:text=Nico%3A%20I%20mean,little%20bit%20absurd.
  17. ↑ https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/milk-of-lime#:~:text=%E2%80%9COh%20yeah%2C%20this%20is%20rotten%2C%20this%20is%20done%2C%20throw%20it%20away.%E2%80%9D%20But%20the%20poetic%20person%20will%20see%20colours%20in%20it.
  18. ↑ https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/milk-of-lime#:~:text=Nico%3A%20I%20mean%2C%20for,old%20things%20we%20find.
  19. ↑ https://www.milk-of-lime.com/product/leather-penholder-black/
  20. ↑ https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/milk-of-lime#:~:text=In%20the%20wake%20of%20a%20milestone%20year%20%E2%80%94%20which%20included%20a%20runway%20presentation%20at%20Berlin%20Fashion%20Week%20and%20a%20showroom%20at%20Paris%20Fashion%20Week%20%E2%80%94
  21. ↑ https://www.coeval-magazine.com/runway/milk-of-lime-ss26#:~:text=Titled%20%E2%80%9CCHIME%E2%80%9D%2C%20their%20third%2Dever%20runway%20show%20was%20built%20around%20the%20sound%20of%20soft%2C%20songlike%20ringing%20in%20the%20wind.%C2%A0
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