Berlin Fashion Week: Between tailoring and techno temples

The Berlin fashion world has ambitious goals. It is not a matter of competing with Paris and emulating other fashion cities, but of establishing the German capital as a fashion metropolis in its own right, according to the frequently emphasised and readily repeated goal of the Fashion Council Germany (FCG), which holds the patronage of Berlin Fashion Week (BFW).

To restore Berlin to its former glory as the epicentre of German fashion, but above all to put the city in the international spotlight, the Fashion Council Germany, together with Berlin's Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Industry, is focusing on promoting young talent - perhaps also to tie them to the German capital, as former Berlin talent, such as GmbH and Ottolinger, were recently drawn to Paris Fashion Week.

What does the fashion of Berlin stand for?

"Berlin has its very own narrative," emphasised FCG chairwoman Christiane Arp at a fashion week opening event, underscoring what the first day of fashion week already proved: Berlin thrives on style plurality and contrast. This applies to the artistic performances as well as to the city's architecture, which often managed to steal the show from the actual main attraction, fashion. In addition to lots of fashion, the week offered a sightseeing tour of Berlin, which, thanks to a full programme and tour bus, took on the character of a fashionable class trip and set the mood for a diverse and sometimes contradictory BFW already on the first day.

At the core of the Fashion Week were the winners of the concept competition "Berlin Contemporary", which was initiated in January by the Senate and the FCG. A total of 18 prize-winners, including four Ukrainian brands that have already been helping to shape and politicise the face of the fashion week since last season, each received 25,000 euros to put on a show during BFW.

The week was opened by the Ukrainian label Bobkova of the eponymous designer Kristina Bobkova. In the heart of the city’s Museum Island, in the garden of the Kronprinzenpalais, she presented a delicate, albeit unspectacular, collection of soft pastel shades with floral prints and soft, flowing dresses in contrast to silhouettes with a masculine touch. Anyone who thought afterwards that this first show would set the optical tone of the week was wrong, because from pretty everyday clothes in the historical monument on the boulevard Unter den Linden, we went to the backyard of a prefabricated building. On a somewhat shaky catwalk, Melisa Minca, winner of the Platte Award for Sustainability, presented a provocative and very conceptual upcycling collection that was bursting with ideas, but stumbled a bit in terms of workmanship - a tendency that could be observed occasionally, because in some collections technique and tailoring gave way to concept.

After a mini-rave at Lucas Meyer-Leclère, who devoted himself to choreography and couture this season, Otto Drögsler and Jörg Ehrlich of Odeeh rounded off the first day of BFW with a colourful, sequin-rich collection at the James Simon Gallery, bringing to close a day that foreshadowed the contrasting programme of the coming days.

Commercial appeal and conceptual statements

Shows with obvious commercial appeal, such as the collection of the Ukrainian label Podyh, met performances during the fashion week that made a name for themselves particularly through their basic idea and their staging, such as Acceptance Letter Studio or the designer Irina Dzhus, who also comes from Ukraine. The latter presented her literally convertible line in the Feuerle Collection, a renovated bunker from the time of World War II. The show of her compatriot Lilia Litkovska at Kraftwerk was comparatively unspectacular - both in the staging and in the choice of location. The collection, however, marked by clean lines and impeccable craftsmanship, turned out to be one of the favourite shows among the visitors. And that without much frippery, or any seating.

Collections like Litkowska's prove that Berlin can do more than the already outdated stereotypes of the techno temple Berghain, even if these were of course not forgotten, but refined this season. Thus, the designer duo behind the Richert Beil brand, Jale Richert and Michele Beil, presented a collection that questions gender roles, wrapping them in latex and leather without necessarily evoking the connotations usually associated with the materials - especially thanks to impeccable workmanship and tailoring. "Father, Ours”, the name of the collection presented in an old supermarket store, not only effortlessly combined pinstriped suits, rocker garb, BDSM elements and grandma's lace doily, but made the combination desirable. The title of the collection may be both a reference to the "paternal" elements of the collection, such as said pinstriped suit, but the religious undertone was not absent, though it was far less provocative than the religiously wicked collection of Nan Li and Emilia Pfohl, whose Namilia brand caused a stir and outcry - both with excitement and outrage.