New formats, new labels, a new organization: this time, Berlin Fashion Week wanted to do everything differently, finally do everything better. Did that work?
Manuel Almeida Vergara
Fashion by Lou de Bètoly: tiny handwork.Fashion Council Germany
The fashion week that has now come to an end was largely shaped by three themes: The guerrilla performance by the activist group The Yes Men, held on Monday at the alternative fashion house Platte. The absurdly long paths of a fashion week, which, in addition to the central locations and premium trade fairs in the deep west, also took its guests to shows in Marzahn and Oberschöneweide. And above all: The lavish funding with which the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises supported most of the events.
Consequently – and this is unusual for a fashion week – many conversations also revolved around the upcoming new elections in this city. The question of how it will be (whether with a new or the old government) for this form of support. Whether there will also be money for a fashion week in the coming season, which this time was in the low seven-digit range.
The generosity towards the Berlin Fashion Week is a risk – not even the picturesque words of the still governing Mayor Franziska Giffey and her Senator for Economic Affairs Stephan Schwarz, who wanted to emphasize the radiance and attraction of German fashion in their opening speeches on Monday, cannot hide that. But it’s also true that this local fashion week doesn’t always work and has gone through many crises. And: That its relevance is consistently denied by a stoic part of the industry.
SF1OG: Between tenderness and gloom; Sia Arnika: Great for the techno club.Fashion Council Germany
Of course, the constant comparisons with Milan and Paris are not only annoying, but above all incredibly silly. Of course, a format founded in 2007, which focuses on Germany’s young fashion generation, cannot be compared to French and Italian fashion weeks, which have been able to grow steadily over decades and present brands with sales in the billions. But money and size as the only parameters? How yesterday is that! Those who argue in this way may understand fashion as a business, but have understood absolutely nothing of its cultural value and the sociological changes of recent years.
Malaikaraiss: Now also for the bride; Odeeh: Narrow ensemble with a ski design.Fashion Council Germany
The idea of an irrefutable industry hierarchy, with the French capital always at the top, is outdated (and also Eurocentric, by the way, given the many exciting formats that are currently emerging in Africa). Anyone who cannot grasp fashion in its entirety – as a social phenomenon and social practice, which today more than ever is constituted by a wide variety of influences, places and cultures – should better not even participate in the discourse on this difficult construct. You won’t get very far with clumsy comparisons. Or, as the premium boss Anita Tillmann said of the Berliner Zeitung last week with a view to Paris and Berlin: “You don’t compare an older, elegant lady with a rebellious 20-year-old!”
LML Studio: Handwoven Materials; Rianna + Nina: Opulence of international renown.Fashion Council Germany
Well then – the Berlin Fashion Week (the outrageous 20-year-old from Tillman’s metaphor) was able to prove their will to innovate, as well as their defiance and disobedience to said encrusted structures. Through critical, uncomfortable contributions such as the guerrilla action in the record or the experienced sustainability conference “202030 – The Berlin Fashion Summit”. By depicting the extremely modern approach of direct sales, as with the designer William Fan, who did not present his successful collection at a show but via a pop-up shop (and gave his guests the motto “see now, buy now” countered). And also with numerous fashion shows, which in their entirety were characterized above all by an immense variety of facets.
Haven’t been there? Themselves to blame!
Entrusting the entire organization of the Fashion Week to the Fashion Council Germany for the first time was a good decision. The Berlin-based lobby association, founded in 2015, was commissioned by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises and, with the help of an expert jury, selected the brands and agencies that were allowed to present themselves at the fashion week. The result is a program of solid quality, which made many styles and many perspectives visible, especially at the shows.
Namilia: Handcrafted Motorbike Looks; Olivia Ballard: Curvaceous Cut.Fashion Council Germany
They ranged from a technoid hyper-modernity – as with the newcomer Sia Arnika, who presented voluminous short jackets together with large-meshed net dresses in the Marzahn industrial area on Monday, or the internationally successful label Namilia with its handmade motorbike looks – to the playful opulence of the duo Rianna + Nina, whose colorful and pattern-strong ensembles are reliably sold over the counter even at Bergdorf’s in Manhattan.
Fassbender: Ecstatic drapery; Haderlump: Jeans patchwork to leather.Fashion Council Germany
There was also a great love for the smallest handicraft in Berlin. At Lou de Bètoly, for example, who, after years of abstinence, once again fascinated at fashion week with her finely woven crocheted pieces – wearable art rather than mere dresses. Or with the impulsive fashion artist Lucas Meyer-Leclère, who presented hand-woven fabrics for his LML Studio in the Sankt Marienkirche on Wednesday – painted over, cut up and shredded by himself. Rosa Marga Dahl also puts her hands on her clothes herself: she showed a fantastic collection from her brand SF1OG on Tuesday in the Rotes Rathaus, alternating between textile delicacy and atmospheric gloom.
Litkovska: denim galore; Front show: A jacket by Anne Bernecker.Fashion Council Germany
A good signal too: Some brands, especially the established ones, presented completely new or at least atypical ideas this season. Designer Malaika Raiss, for example, now also makes contemporary because reserved bridal fashion (a really smart decision!) that just flows down the woman’s body. The label Odeeh has complemented its spacious coats and dresses in large-format patterns with body-hugging, functional designs in gray and black – the result is a collection that is strong in character and yet remains flexible.
Also of note: Ukrainian brand Litkovska, with its roomy denim ensembles and pinstriped suits; the Fassbender label with shiny metallic materials that shine beautifully in the eccentric folds; the designer Olivia Ballard, a darling of the Berlin scene, who closed the fashion week on Thursday with a curvaceous, flattering cut. And: the Berlin brand Haderlump, which presented a fashion show for the first time ever. Her collection was still shaped by experiments, by trying things out. The line becomes strong and dynamic precisely where it contrasts the spirited patchwork technique with calmer pieces – boxy leather jackets or coats with an extra-long silhouette, for example.
And then there was the staging of Vorn. In addition to an immersive exhibition of computer-generated clothing intended to bring the physical and the digital together (“phygital”, the associated buzzword), the new collective also presented a show with the designs of dozens of sustainable labels . So there was definitely a lot to see in the past five days. It’s your own fault if you don’t look.