Words by Lucie Wernecke & Ann-Kathrin Riedl

About Strength, Womanhood and Greek History: In Conversation with Meret Bär

Slimmer, younger, more optimised: the female body is often treated as something that needs to be changed. With COURVEIA, Meret Olympia Salome Bär turns this idea on its head and puts the body’s strength at the centre. The Swiss-born, London-based designer works across fashion and accessories, creating pieces that encourage us to embrace our own strength rather than hide it. An idea that feels very much of the moment: her accessories collection, presented in the short film Lactic Acid, explores the relationship between strength and softness and was a finalist at the prestigious International Talent Support (ITS) competition in 2025. At Fräulein, we believe Meret is a designer with real potential – and, more importantly, with the depth to make her work about much more than clothes.

You studied at Parsons School of Design in New York, where the environment was very ambitious and driven. How have you evolved since then Where do you like to learn and work, and what do you need to stay motivated and inspired?

The best thing for me is being able to work at the limit of my knowledge. I moved from New York to London, mainly because of Savile Row, where the classic fashion industry is still represented. There I can do collaborations, which lets me learn about new techniques, materials and manufacturing processes.

 

For example, one of my latest projects was with a materials start-up from Switzerland that turns recycled carbon fiber into a self-healing material, which is normally used for cars or airplanes. Of course, I found that totally exciting, so I contacted them, even though the company had never produced anything for the fashion industry with this material. For me it was a new learning experience to explain to them what a bag needs in order to be consumer-friendly in the end.

Right now I also have a project with a jeweler, where we’re turning a ski boot buckle into a button. It’s an interplay: she understands different closures and openings, and I can say what it needs to hold securely on a knitted piece when you want to open and close it. I find these open questions, or situations where you don’t know exactly how to solve something, very interesting. I also think it’s very cool to work with materials that aren’t typical for fashion, like metal or carbon fiber.

You lived in New York for a long time and have been in London for a few years. What influence does the city you live in have on you?

From New York I took the fun/drive, and from London more the precision and appreciation. In both cities, the professionalism shaped me a lot. I had a different feeling in Zurich, where things moved at a slower, more local pace. That shaped me too, both professionally and personally.

 

In New York I was able to work at Graceling for a short time and see what it takes to build a successful label right after university, similar to Proenza Schouler, where I also worked. In London, it was Savile Row where I learned precision and the knowledge of pattern cutting. There are people there who have spent 20 years doing nothing but sewing jackets, and that makes them incredibly good. I find that fascinating too, and even though I only observed it, it left its mark on me.

 

In big cities there’s always a lot going on and a lot to observe, especially on long walks through the streets. In New York I started simply wearing whatever I felt like, because it’s totally irrelevant how you walk around there. Before New York, I would never have dared to just experiment. I took that ability with me to London, although people did look at me when I dressed a bit more unusually. On Savile Row you have the super classic style, the Peaky Blinders style, which I then combined with the experimentation of New York. So, the appreciation for tradition from London and the “you just do you” from New York.

 

A moment that will always stay with me was the first day at university in New York, when I had a lecturer who said: “You know, if you walk around in New York with lipstick on your forehead, nobody’s gonna give a shit.” And I thought, yeah, sure, as if. And then, after I’d lived in New York for a few months, I thought, it’s true.

In your designs for COURVEIA, there are many references to the world of sports. What is your relationship with it?

Fun is the most important thing for me, whether it’s sport or music or whatever. When I want to learn a movement at the beginning, whether it’s a pull-up or a handstand, I always think “that’s mission impossible,” until at some point it becomes “mission possible,” which I find amazing. It’s pretty funny when my friends from the fashion world sometimes show up to the workout fully fashioned in cowboy boots instead of sneakers. It’s just like having a little bit of a kiki, as you would say in London. And when it’s about strength training or bone health and someone has a question, it’s also fun for me to explain a few things.

If you’re ever in a situation where you think, “How am I ever supposed to get out of this?”, I feel like having had a similar experience in sport helps incredibly.

One of the most memorable pieces is a handbag shaped like a training weight. How did you come up with the idea?

It actually started with my own story, because in my early twenties I suffered from low bone density. I noticed it when I broke my hips. That’s why I started strength training and changed my diet, which allowed me to bring my bones back into the normal range. The strength training and the equipment became extremely personal because of that. I started researching where this equipment actually comes from and ended up in ancient Greece and the halterer, the earliest object similar to a Kettlebell.

I find the world of the athletes in ancient Greece extrmely fascinating, they’re so modern. When you look at depictions of them on mosaics, you can see that they already had bikinis, whereas that didn’t exist in the Middle Ages or in the early 20th/21st century. Also, the Greek goddesses are a topic I’d like to explore more in the future. In modern times, being a woman became associated with weakness, but in ancient times, these goddesses represented strength.

Then I started looking more closely at the equipment in the gym, its forms, mechanisms and how these could translate into fashion. I still take a lot of inspiration from this. Right now, I’m fascinated by barbell racks and how a single pin can secure 100 kg at different heights and positions. It makes me think about how the same principle could be translated into a closing or adjustment mechanism in clothing.

Can you explain how it goes from the first idea to the finished product?

It starts with building an emotional connection to a topic that really excites me – like the gym. Right now it’s snow, the Alps and the mountains. I look at everything very closely: in the gym it’s the objects, in the Alps it’s the snow and the different kinds ice. Then I research their properties as well as their history. Then I start defining the color palette and the formal language. Once I have that, I often start from an object, product or even a plant and think about how I can integrate it into fashion. I start sketching so that I really understand the three-dimensionality of the object. For openings, for example, or the structure of a textile, I think about how I can adapt the object I’ve analyzed and pick the theme up again.

 

Usually I have one or two objects that I find most interesting and start making prototypes from them. Once I have the first prototype, I first wear it myself to know how the piece feels, after which the real prototyping phase begins. In the case of the Kettlebell, I first made a 3D scan, then a 3D print, and then I thought that if I used a CNC milling, I could use more materials, but that didn’t work, so I went back to 3D printing. In the end it became a combination of mold, casting and leather. That’s what a prototype process can look like: it works, but it’s not yet durable or elegant. The path to finding a practical solution often forces you into a new aesthetic as well.

I originally wanted to make the Kettlebell out of 3D printed metal, but that would been too expensive, so I 3D printed it in a cheaper material and sprayed it silver. Because I wore the bag very often, the silver got really scratched up. But I thought that was totally cool, so this became my favorite variant, because it shows the use, like in the gym. In the design process it’s super important to me that I genuinely want to try out the product. Because if you don’t even want to try it out yourself, it’s less likely that other people will like it. And being approached about the product by people on the street is, of course, good feedback too.

Your new collection, which includes accessories such as glasses alongside handbags, stands out compared to the classic accessories we know. How have your designs developed over the last few years?

In the beginning I worked mainly with fabric and leather. During Covid I tried out 3D and CAD programs, and I really enjoyed it. That’s why I set myself the goal during my MA of working more with hard shells.

 

And I think my earlier pieces or collections were also much more classic and maybe more feminine. With the Gymbag series, things became a bit harder and maybe a bit sillier. I think in the next collection I want to bring the two together: the soft, feminine and nostalgic, and at the same time a certain hardness and silliness. As I go through personal development, my interests evolve with it. How you feel emotionally at a certain point in life has an enormous effect on the aesthetic.

What does the term strength mean to you, and how do you think it has changed over time?

Right now, strength is connected for me with an inner attitude and with good self-esteem. I believe staying strong in difficult situations requires good self-esteem: when something doesn’t work out, you can meet yourself with gentleness and understanding. When you can accept situations, you can start to learn from them, and that’s where the visible strength that others can see comes from.

 

Being humble also has a positive influence on strength, I think. In my mid-twenties, that was less the case. At a younger age, I’ve had fewer situations where I had no control over it, and that felt so unfair. I think if you can accept that it simply is what it is, then you can grow from it. I also see that as strength.

 

Physical strength can be an expression of strength, but doesn’t have to be. I always thought strength starts mentally, You have to take the first step mentally, and everything else follows. What you don’t see is often the real strength.

What does it mean to you to work with women?

At the Royal College of Art, during my Master’s in London, I was incredibly lucky with the group of women in my program. We’re still a super close group of friends. At Savile Row, I’ll probably soon be working in bespoke womenswear, which is also a really cool community. Without generalizing, in my experience there has often been a lot of room for exchange in a female working environment. Because fashion is so closely tied to the body and identity, to how we perceive ourselves, I find it very valuable to be able to exchange ideas with other women and motivate each other.

 

I once worked in an office where there was no bin in the bathroom for tampons or pads, only in the kitchen. It was an office where significantly more men worked. As a woman, you always had to go to the kitchen, and it was really awkward when only men were in the room.

What potential do you see in fashion design that other design or art fields may have less of?

Fashion has great cultural power and can change societal perspectives on women, for better and for worse. Beauty ideals can influence our relationship with ourselves and how we see ourselves, and that can go both directions. It can be destructive, but it can also create something positive. Fashion sits at the intersection of societal norms and our very personal relationship with ourselves. And obviously, we wear fashion directly on our bodies. That’s super intimate. Through fashion, women are shown what image of femininity, beauty and strength currently exists. But you can subtly shift these images so that they feel empowering.

 

I think you can give teenage girls a lot of empowerment through fashion in particular. I think it would be very cool if schools offered fashion history or something similar, which is ultimately a mirror of society. That way, you could give young girls a perhaps different image of beauty and of themselves.

What would you advise aspiring designers who are still looking for their place in the creative world?

Always stay curious, build up a treasure trove of knowledge and skills; I think that’s really important, and find your group of friends or people you connect with. If you keep developing proper skills while also expanding your circle of friends, you’ll naturally find your place in fashion. When you’re working together on a project in a relaxed way or trying something new in a workshop, you always meet someone you think is cool.

 

And who knows, five years later that person has a label and can hire you, or you decide to do a collaboration or something. Sometimes it takes more time and sometimes less. It’s important not to stress if something takes longer than you initially thought; in the end, it always works out somehow if it comes from the heart.

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