Berlin Fashion Week: A cool trip to the avant-garde

Romens are always easy to spot in hindsight. In the case of Berlin Fashion Week, it was a train packed with school classes that headed back to the capital before the summer holidays to find out which places have shaped the history of this country, what should be preserved, what should be remembered and how. The compartment students first went to the Holocaust memorial (“The one with the stones, right?”) – probably the only place where there was no fashion show during this hot July week.

Because if you have never been to Berlin before, this time you got a very complete sightseeing tour as a fashion journalist: the Berlin Salon took place in the Kronprinzenpalais, the Odeeh label showed for example in the James Simon Gallery of the Pergamon Museum. , Rihanna + Nina on the stairs of the Old National Gallery, Milk of Fame at Zeiss Planetarium, William Fan at Gropius Bau, Lilia Litkowska at Kraftwerk, Sia Arnika at Havel, SF1OG at Ludwig-Erhard-Haus and Namilia More precisely, again at Kronprinzenpalais.

Rational decision

Holding such shows in the city was a smart decision. Because the Fashion Week, which was supposed to take place briefly in Frankfurt am Main (a city that, thanks to its exhibition infrastructure, would give the Premium and Seek trade fairs docked to the fashion week, a different, perhaps even more profitable look). paint), who unexpectedly returned to Berlin, moved and lost a major sponsor of Mercedes-Benz, sometimes seemed a little unstable: the German Fashion Council tried to gather young, promising designers into a bunch, give them one more place in showrooms and salons and turn the German capital into international fashion city close. The latter, at least, is still a vaunted goal, as FCG Chairman Christian Arp and Secretary of State Michael Beal reiterated at the opening dinner.

So yes, it was a smart decision to show all the shows in historic, spacious venues with pillars and pine floors (rather than a marquee or old industrial halls as in the past) – because it was the first time the city had to look after fashion became visible. . And the location itself should not be underestimated in the age of online advertising, when guests in the forefront are photographed. Those who wanted to see all the performances could make the trip back and forth on a shuttle bus, with packed lunches, from performance to performance, east to west and back (and those with other plans were mostly busy returning the rest by taxi). or to catch up with the train).

Labels with their own aesthetic

Fourteen German and four Ukrainian labels presented their models at the Berlin Contemporary Shows – a concept that was approved during fashion week earlier in the year – and proved to be constructive. In addition to commercial brands such as Marcel Ostertag and Kilian Kerner (who drag out their shows with unnecessary pomp), labels looking for their own avant-garde aesthetic can be targeted.

Among Ukrainian designers there is Lilia Litkovskaya. Already known in fashion, she was invited with her On Air collection, which she had already presented in Paris. However, this was no longer the same collection: five days before the show in Kreuzberg, part of the works, originally created in Kyiv, was stolen in Paris. Her team quickly recreated her, albeit in a somewhat “simplified form”, as she explained after the show.