Actually, the collections for next winter are shown at the fashion week. Nevertheless, there are many cropped looks and short shorts. What’s going on there?
Manuel Almeida Vergara
shiver! These are the designs for the upcoming winter of the label Sia Arnika.Fashion Council Germany
Outside, in front of the doors of the Berlin Fashion Week, it is already quite clear in which season we are at the moment: the temperatures are dancing around the 0-degree mark, the coat collars are turned up, the scarves are laced a little tighter, knitted hats are everywhere . Inside, however, on the catwalks of this fashion week, which started on Monday, one is no longer quite so sure whether there is such a thing as seasons at all.
Thick puffer jackets are worn over thin crop tops, followed by a bare fishnet dress and warm wool coats come down the catwalk. There are mini skirts and sweaters, short sleeves, long sleeves. “Summer or winter, it doesn’t matter, the main thing is fashion” – that could be the headline of many collections that have been shown at Berlin Fashion Week since Monday. It should be the designs for autumn and winter of this year that are now being presented to the public and will go on sale from September.
Year-round thought
And yet: At the show by the designer Sia Arnika on Monday, in addition to fluffy winter jackets and sturdy leather pants, there were also fishnet dresses and transparent tops to see. The runway show by new sustainability collective Vorn, which brings together designs from different brands, was full of summer and winter ensembles; the designs of the Bobkova brand alternated between negligee and wool dress. At the well-established label Odeeh, in addition to lavish knitwear, a minimalistic bustier was on display on Tuesday; a few hours later, the young avant-gardists from SF1OG were wearing short shorts and generous coat designs.
What is evident here is a development that has been emerging in international fashion for some time: namely, the detachment from the classic seasons, which is not always synonymous with a rejection of the fashion system that allows the production and sale of at least two collections in the year – one for spring/summer, one for fall/winter. Rather, it is the products themselves, their functionality and design principles that are now being considered across the years.
Short pants in the winter collections, long coats in the summer line: This is also based on the realization that fashion today has to reach a global clientele. A clientele that not only lives in different parts of the world, in different climatic zones, but also travels a lot – in winter they need panties for a vacation in Bali and in summer a light coat for a trip to the far north. And even if not every label that presents its collections at Berlin Fashion Week also sells internationally – the principle of year-round fashion has become established everywhere.
In addition – and people in Berlin know this very well – you can no longer rely on the weather anyway. There are climate-change-warm winters, grey-cloudy summers, cool springs and mild autumns. This development is also taken into account on the Berlin catwalks. And by the way, also on their edges: In the first rows of the fashion week, which runs until Saturday, a few free navels flashed through – until outside, in winter-cold Berlin, the thick coat was gathered over it.