www.womanthismonth.com December 2017 FASHION | designer spotlight 25 Sabine offers bags and home items as well as clothing. Lightbulb moment – this dress was Sabine's original inspiration. Chanel showed LED bags in its SS17 collection. Actress Claire Danes wore an LED gown to the 2016 Met Gala. German Sabine has been in Bahrain nine years, having come here to join her husband, who works in Saudi Arabia. The couple met in 2007 at a karate workshop in Japan and it was, pretty much, love at first sight. Sabine finished her studies in business administration and headed east. Two children quickly followed and both karate and business administration fell by the wayside as the 38-year-old concentrated on being a mum until one day she was surfing the web and had a ‘lightbulb moment’. She explains: “I came across a picture of a wedding dress with LEDs [light emitting diodes] embroidered into it. It was like a piece of art! Fashion represents a very emotional, luxury event in your life, it doesn’t just fill a basic need. Integrating light elements into clothing never fails to attract astonishment and guarantees a ‘wow’ effect when people see it for the first time.” Further research revealed that other designers such as Chanel and Dolce&Gabbana were also lighting up their collections, but only in the area of accessories. So, Sabine decided to try her hand in the fashion industry, designing and making her own LED pieces. After several months spent speaking with suppliers, she was able to source light, flexible and washable lighting chains, which she stitches into her own designs of clothing and household pieces, from abayas to table runners. Her first, and still favourite, production, was an evening dress – similar to a low-key bridal gown – which she both designed and then illuminated. She adds: “The possibilities to integrate this technology into clothing are limitless.” The lights are operated with a battery pack and can last for several hours, depending on how many bulbs are used. Good as it seems, this raises a question of energy sustainability, which greatly concerned Sabine. She says: “I learned that the fashion industry is the world’s second-most-polluting industry! That really shocked me. And illuminated fashion is adding to it. In order to power your clothing, you need a source that provides the energy. I am using rechargeable batteries which can be charged easily at a USB port, like your cell phone charger. “A possibility for the future to make illuminated fashion more sustainable is the utilisation of renewable energy sources, such as solar energy. There are projects to integrate solar cells into, let’s say, a jacket. You wear it for two hours in the sun and your battery will be charged. However, this technology is still in its infancy, and textile has a lot of properties not found in other materials, such as its flexibility – solar cells will need to adapt to those properties.” For now, Sabine is simply concentrating on establishing her brand in the market and she will be at seasonal fairs across the island this month. To see more of what’s available, visit lichtspiel-fashion.com The range runs from dresses to abiyas and everything in between.
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