Brief introduction

Wolfgang Joop was born in Potsdam on November 18, 1944, the son of Gerhard and Charlotte Joop. He spent his childhood at the Bornstedt Estate, which belonged to his grandfather and was located near the Sansssouci Palace.

The family left the plantation in 1954 and moved to Braunschweig. Joop graduated from high school in 1964 and then began to study advertising psychology. However, Joop solved it and turned to art education. After a while, he also completed his studies and began working as a recovery instead.

Wolfgang Joop married Karin Benatzky in 1970, who was studying art at the time. The couple took part in the fashion competition held by Constanze magazine. Joop received the first three prizes and started working as fashion editors for Hamburg Women’s Magazine “Neue Mode”.

The following years were spent as journalists and independent fashion designers. In 1978 he finally made an international breakthrough as a fashion designer by presenting his own fag collection. Through the New York Times, he received the title “Prussian Designer”.

Career

Wolfgang Joop’s career began in 1978 after his breakthrough as an international designer. In the following years he worked on his name under the trademark joop! to be known.

In 1982, her first woman collection appeared, followed by a collection of men in 1985. In 1987, a collection of perfume joined Joop! As a coveted lifestyle brand. The company’s products found the targeted placement in the medium price segment to overcome the largest target group. In the 90s, Joop! Finally marketing various licensed products.

When business differences arise from time to time, Joop slowly withdraws from the company. In 1998 he sold 95 percent of his company shares at a price of around 150 million DM to Hamburg Wishes Group. He initially remained as the head of the brand designer, but left the company completely in 2001 and sold the remaining five percent.

In 2003 Wolfgang Joop and his life partner Edwin Lemberg founded the “Wunderkind” fashion brand. The fashion label has been struggling with ups and downs since then, but able to get international attention. In 2004, the first international fashion show took place at the New York Fashion Week. The designer brand mode is also displayed in the next three weeks of mode. After the label was displayed at Paris Fashion Week in 2006, the first collection of complete collections was followed there in 2012.

Joop sold 50 percent of his shares in 2007 and even resigned as the Implementing Director in 2010. However, in 2011, he bought back his shares and returned to the position of the sole implementing director. “Wunderkind” is considered as an unfavorable fashion label charged by Joop at his own expense, but the fashion brand is very important for him.

In addition to this label, Wolfgang Joop supported the “German’s Next Top Model” judge in 2014 and 2015. He appeared as a judge in the nine and ten season, but was later separated from his colleagues.

In addition to his work as a designer and entrepreneur, Joop also works as a writer, illustrator and actor. While the fashion designer autobiography was published in 2013, his graphic works were in an exhibition at the Hamburg Arts and Trade Museum. Since 2010, Wolfgang Joop has also worked as a creative consultant with “Galeria Kaufhof”.

Career spotlight

Wolfgang Joop received a d’Or fil at Monte Carlo in 1983. In 1984 he was awarded the “Golden Roving” fashion prize by the City of Krefeld and the European Silk Commission. In 1995, the forum prize followed, which was received by Joop from the Textilwirtschaft trading magazine. The Bild newspaper respects German fashion designers with OSGAR media prizes in 2005. Bambi was attended in 2009 as a “special jury” and in 2011 Wolfgang Joop received the Men of the Year award from GQ magazine. In the same year, Joop also received the Regentbogen Award radio, which was given to him in the “Media Man” category. In 2012, the German Federal Republican designer award respected the “life achievement” of Joop, while the Vienna award in the field of fashion and lifestyle expanded this honor in 2018 as a “style icon”.

Famous quote

– “The feeling of loneliness shows that you are unique.”
– “The man has found himself as the object of pleasure and no longer waiting for Mutti to pull him.”
– “The fun thing about fashion is tired so fast.”

Amazing facts

In 1985 Wolfgang Joop received a position as a lecturer to visit to design at the University of Berlin Art. Among other things, he took over the management of the “Fur Fashion With Accessories” seminar.

In addition, Joop was involved in various social institutions, such as Dunkelziffer EV, Suar Hamburg and German bone marrow donation files. He is also a protector and support for animal shelters in Potsdam.

Last but not least, Wolfgang Joop believes that the division becomes gay or straight makes no sense. In 2014 he told Bildzeitung that sexual orientation was absolutely irrelevant in modern times.