Most think of East Germany as having been drab, gray and boring. But an underground fashion scene did its best to spice things up. A new documentary takes a look at the perils of creating avant-garde couture in a communist country. Comrade Couture is a journey into the wild nether world of the ‘fashionistas’ and Bohemians of East Berlin. Director Marco Wilms, a former model of the GDR’s fashion institute, sets out to once more resurrect this life’s unique lifestyle, economic freedom, and longing to be different, in the here and now. The film undertakes a journey into the parallel universe of East Berlin’s fashion designers and experts in the art of survival showing how, in the midst of the constraints of life in the GDR, there existed a fantasy world where it was possible to dance to another tune, be individual and even provocative. But this certainly wasn’t something that could be bought off the peg in the GDR. In this parallel universe it was up to you to create your own individual image – with your own hands. This film tells the story of the desires, the passion and the dreams that were tried and tested, lived and performed in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.