This move is not easy for Harald Glööckler. Over the past few days, the dazzling fashion designer has had opulent furniture and other interior items removed from his previous domicile in the Palatinate. Because: Herr Glööckler is leaving romantic Kirchheim and moving to vibrant Berlin. “I need the energy of the big city,” says the TV celebrity. The sentence echoes in the large, bare room. The ‘Chateau Pompöös’ looks like an empty castle. In it, Glööckler sits on one of the last chairs. The rest is already gone. In Berlin. Kiez instead of Kirchheim.
The cult designer actually wanted to stay in the Palatinate for “an eternity” after moving from Berlin in 2015, which surprised many. Eternity lasted eight years. “If you’re no longer happy, you have to let go – even of things that you thought would last forever,” says Glööckler. He lived in the twelve-room house with his husband Dieter Schroth. The divorce is currently in progress. “The house is too big for just one person,” says the 58-year-old. “It wasn’t forever in the end, but it was nice. Moving is not easy for me.”
In view of the interior, this applies twice. A table that was too long for the elevator in Berlin had to be lifted into the new apartment using a crane. The huge paintings traveled up between the stairs on ropes. But no apartment is as big as a house. “I’ll store part of it, I’ll sell another part.” Glööckler, who was born in Maulbronn (Baden-Württemberg), endures the hardship of the change of location with demonstrative equanimity. “I’ve moved so many times – all of a sudden it doesn’t matter.”
‘Pompous’ Fashion and Reality TV
Glööckler once made a name for himself with teleshopping and, under the term ‘Pompöös’, designs almost everything from fashion and jewelery to dog bowls with crowns and wallpaper. Make-up, glittering clothes and a pitch-black beard have become trademarks. He was in the jungle camp and exhibits at fashion fairs and in museums. RTLzwei filmed him as he walked through the empty house in Kirchheim. Brand and person sometimes merge. And yet, emphasizes Glööckler, he draws a clear dividing line.
This line has also run between Kirchheim and Berlin in recent years. The wine village, which has around 2,000 inhabitants, was “the right place at the right time”. But, it seems, you can get Glööckler from Berlin – but not Berlin from Glööckler. “I missed the vibrant life in the Palatinate,” he says. Berlin keeps reinventing itself. “We have that in common.”
Occasionally, the reinvention also goes beyond the exterior – just recently Glööckler had fat removed from his stomach and waist in order to better shape his chest. “You can always look good – but as you get older it takes longer and longer,” says the designer. Among other things, he had his cheeks lifted and the skin-tightening agent Botox injected. Comments about it, he says, no longer interest him “for a long time”.
Some people in Kirchheim are sad that the artist is leaving the place. “When you met him, he was always friendly,” says one of his neighbors, who asked not to be named. “He made Kirchheim known nationwide.” Mayor Kay Kronemayer told the newspaper ‘Die Rheinpfalz’ that Glööckler was known, among other things, for his cordial dealings with the carol singers and was also well liked as a neighbor. “I am really sad that he is leaving and wish him all the best for the future.”
In Kirchheim, Glööckler had greenery in front of his door, he could see vineyards from some of the windows. In Berlin he wants to experience more glamor with his little dog Billy King in the future. It is to be expected that he will let the public participate. (dpa)