Heinz Schulze (fashion designer)

Heinz Schulze (born August 21, 1907 in Berlin-Schöneberg ; † May 29, 1985 in Munich ) was a German fashion designer. From 1953 he called himself Heinz Schulze-Varell . Schulze was one of the most important couturiers of his time. Numerous dresses and costumes for German films came from him, including for Zarah Leander and Lilian Harvey .

Life

Heinz Arthur Schulze was the son of the hotelier Arthur Schulze and his wife Herta. He finished school with a secondary school leaving certificate and began an apprenticeship as a businessman in two Berlin clothing stores in 1923. In 1928 he met the fashion illustrator Margarete Kickler (* 1907), whom he married in 1932. “Kiki” also became Schulze's model, on whom he first tested his creations. In 1934 he opened his own fashion salon "Schulze-Bibernell". Among his customers, whom he increasingly advised on other fashion items (handbags, hats, etc.), were women of the film industry, the nobility and the wives and daughters of high-ranking National Socialists .

In 1943 Schulze became head of costume at the UFA film company. Because he refused a “declaration of loyalty” to the “Führer” ( Adolf Hitler ), he was drafted into military service. A little later he was able to bring his family to safety in Bavaria; he himself followed at the end of World War II .

For the American military government , Schulze was a showpiece artist who had largely refused to accept National Socialism. They dedicated a double page to him in the edition of February 15, 1947 in their magazine Heute and presented him as an example of modern German fashion design. In 1948 the fashion salon "Heinz A. Schulze" was established in Munich, from 1953 it became "Schulze-Varell". An international career followed that took Schulze to Paris and Asia. In 1973 he taught at the German Master School for Fashion in Munich. His last shop, which was downsized due to the reduced demand for individually made evening dresses, was on Munich's Prinzregentenstrasse .

Awards

• 1952: State Prize of the Bavarian Government
• 1955: Bavarian Order of Merit

literature

• Anita Margrit Auer: Schulze-Varell, Heinz Arthur. In: New German Biography. 23, 2007, pp. 732-733 ( online ).
• Susa Ackermann: Couture in Germany. Highlights from the German fashion industry. Perlen, Munich 1961.
• Uwe Westphal: Berlin clothing and fashion: The destruction of a tradition 1836-1939. Hentrich 1992, ISBN 978-3-89468-044-2 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Heinz Schulze in the catalog of the German National Library
• Edmond Lutrand: Carrying owls to Athens - Heinz Schulze-Varell's successful German fashion show in Paris. In: Die Zeit , February 3, 1955