A woman sees red: Franziska Giffey on election night, in the background Bettina Jarasch from the Greens and the FDP candidate, Sebastian Czaja, in the RBB round of the top candidates.Fabian Sommer/dpa
The elections are over. For the second time. And that without any major problems, which can be considered good news in Berlin. How exactly things will continue in the Red City Hall can only be guessed at – most of the top candidates are busy licking their wounds. And with the restrained probing.
That gives us a little time to take a closer look at Franziska Giffey and Bettina Jarasch, Kai Wegner, Klaus Lederer and Sebastian Czaja. And to look retrospectively at how the ladies and gentlemen fared in terms of fashion in the election campaign. A critique of style in five acts.
1. Bettina Jarasch: Would-be casual in leather
Someone wanted to differentiate themselves from the stiff suburban look of their competitor: Bettina Jarasch showed up in a black turtleneck sweater on election night, with a green leather jacket over it – not very original. It didn’t look particularly exquisite and it probably shouldn’t. Something between 70s biker look, used look by Peek & Cloppenburg and police revival.
Hope is green, at least that’s what Bettina Jarasch seems to think and appeared in a less than appealing used-look jacket. On an e-bike, that certainly looks quite rebellious. But only there.Agentur Baganz/imago
Leder is multi-faceted in his statement, as with Jarasch: Look, I’m very easygoing (not true!), at the same time I know what’s cool (not true!), and yet I exude a certain authority (well). Next to the election winner of the evening, Bettina Jarasch looked like hipness personified. And you have to get that with this look first. Marcus Weingartner
2. Franziska Giffey: Indestructible like a matryoshka
You could definitely compare Franziska Giffey with a matryoshka. And that in two ways. In a figurative sense, on the one hand, with a view to her political career: Giffey was able to gallantly put the plagiarism scandal surrounding her scientific theses behind her, not least by changing her position; After the Berlin election failure of 2021, the woman has now achieved a historically poor result, but could still remain in office – so whenever you think the wooden figure is broken, a new Matryoshka pops up from inside. A new Giffey, but which remains optically the same as before. A game that could be continued ad infinitum.
Hairstyle, jacket, dress – everything fits, storm-tested and wrinkle-free. After the result, Giffey no longer has her facial expression under control.Bernd Elmenthaler/image
And the still-mayoress and the nestable play figure also have a few things in common when it comes to fashion: Despite the homely aesthetics, both appear indestructible with their smooth shapes. Giffey’s matronly uniform – her consistently unwrinkled suits as well as her steadfast banana hairstyle, from which not even a strand dares come loose – has survived every change of wind in her career unscathed, even if it quickly turned into a storm. At least that’s impressive.
Giffey’s choice of clothes for yesterday’s election night was less impressive: a red jacket, of course, SPD red. Despite the election results, it covers a stiff, knee-length dress in Christian Democratic black – so Giffey nonchalantly buries the winning party under its little Social Democratic cloak. Can this really work? Giffey doesn’t seem to be so sure on Monday either: During her first appointments after the sobering redial, her plump Matryoshka jacket is dyed a hopeful blue. It doesn’t wrinkle. Manuel Almeida Vergara
3. Kai Wegner: The man without qualities
The CDU man Kai Wegner was certainly the big winner of the evening and looked most of the time as if he couldn’t believe it himself, thanks to New Year’s Eve. In any case, the Berlin CDU was over the moon and their candidate tried to look as if he had swapped his district (Spandau) for Prenzlauer Berg. So the other less cool district, where people still think that not wearing a tie is special fancy is.
You see, you see nothing: Kai Wegner is dressed as a top man of the Berlin CDU should be. Bland and uninspired.Agentur Baganz/imago
With Kai Wegner, however, it looked as if he was so surprised by everything that he forgot his tie in the pocket of his well-behaved dark blue jacket before he was asked about his victory. Underneath, the Christian Democrat wore a white shirt, which overall was as reliably conservative as it was boring, just like the Berlin CDU. Marcus Weingartner
4. Klaus Lederer: Black armor for the descent
Fortunately, the top candidate of the left, Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer, did not show himself in the colors of his party. He left this old-fashioned and uncool signal to his competitors, Franziska in the red bolero jacket and the wannabe biker Bettina Jarasch. Lederer, a man with reliable taste, wore all black, so you can’t go wrong, but at the same time you have few ideas when it comes to outfits.
This is what, uh, losers look like: Sebastian Czaja (FDP), Klaus Lederer from the left and the governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD). What Czaja is happy about, however, remains a mystery.Fabian Sommer/dpa
That’s not the issue for Klaus Lederer and his party at the moment, because the choice of outerwear is likely to be the last problem that is keeping the party from sleeping. The unspectacular result of 12.2 percent does not necessarily indicate great enthusiasm for the Left Party’s program and is almost two percentage points worse than in the breakdown election a year and a half ago. You can always wear black. Marcus Weingartner
5. Sebastian Czaja: FDP all along the line
That’s what losers look like – there’s no other way to put it. Sebastian Czaja was not able to help his Berlin FDP to win, on the contrary, it was kicked out of the House of Representatives. At the federal level, there is now a belief that the grand traffic light coalition must be more forceful, that the party’s own characteristics should come to the fore again more clearly. Which is not without a certain comedy, because on the surface, at least in Berlin, exactly these characteristics didn’t really want to ignite: More FDP than Sebastian Czaja – that’s not really possible! The lead candidate is like a caricature of his party.
Can’t get out of the shadow of the big party: In his blue bank clerk suit, Czaja looks like the FDP incarnate.Bernd Elmenthaler/image
A man, of course, in a dark blue suit, of course. On his advertising posters, Czaja presented himself as young, agile and attractive – like Christian Lindner, who was declared the “poster boy” of politics thanks to his model self-promotion. That behind the slick packaging of modernization there is a very reactionary, because male-dominated understanding of politics – never mind, this is about the facade! And with Czaja, one has to admit, that has always been right over the past few weeks. But a well-fitting suit in the best banker manner is no guarantee of success, especially in Berlin. Not even if – as can be seen occasionally with Czaja – the white, narrow-collared shirt is deliberately casually exchanged for a round-necked T-shirt. Nothing helped. Manuel Almeida Vergara
Do you have feedback? Write us! [email protected]