![comrade-couture-movie-2](/static/bin/entry/85e/x/28133/comrade-couture-movie-2.jpg)
While street style photographers like Garance Doré and The Sartorialist search the globe for trendsetting bystanders, German filmmaker Marco Wilms can remember when such sartorial showboating was considered borderline illegal. The former model recently released "Comrade Couture," a documentary revisiting the nonconformist East German fashion scene of the 1980s, which thrived in basements and abandoned buildings, away from the watchful eye of the police. Ignoring cookie-cutter looks sanctioned by the state, the rebel fashionistas went for a mix of McQueen-worthy Gothic theatricality and homemade chic, with belts doing double-duty as bracelets, tube tops, and miniskirts. In addition to the film, Berlin's Kunstgewerbemuseum will feature an exhibit of these one-of-a-kind designs beginning July 4. (Spiegel Online International)