My colleague Mark Holgate is in Berlin for its spring 2025 fashion shows. He has plenty to say, so let's jump right in!
As a Berlin Fashion Week first-timer, what are your impressions of the designers there?
I knew it was going to be interesting, but I honestly didn't expect to be quite so impressed. The first day I saw two labels that I already knew, GmbH and Shayne Oliver's Anonymous Club. Both had really terrific shows—and in the case of GmbH, a powerful message about the horrific creep of fascism across Europe, and worryingly, perhaps a bit closer to home in the US. (To see their show and then read the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity was chilling—and sobering.) I also had the opportunity to see the work of seven labels unknown to me because of the inaugural FCG/Vogue Fashion Fund. I really appreciated that many of the designers seem unafraid to engage with the thornier issues of the world—and specifically of the fashion world—through their work. And then Christiane Arp of the Fashion Council Germany kindly took me round a presentation of 44vstudents and fledgling labels called Der Berliner Salon, and there was so much that looked ambitious in its technique, make, and design expression. People are making their own textiles, upcycling and generally experimenting with a raw, spirited energy. Not everything is perfect, but that's the point; it doesn't have to be.
Is Berlin leading on any fashion trends?
From what I've seen spring 2025 is going to be a season of shorts, slouchy denim, crisp conceptual shirting and jacketing, an almost sculptural hand with athletic influences; lots of things being inverted, designed to look like they're upside down, or repurposed for another use; and, if you see a lot of majorly clompy boots walking around in the heat of next summer, you'll know where that came from. But as Christiane Arp said to me: Berlin is the trend. This city makes everything you see on the runway feel as real and alive as what's on the street—and vice versa. Maybe it is because Berlin wasn't ever on the international runway circuit, so everyone just street-casted or used their friends in their shows. I've really appreciated that diversity—of gender, age, and body types—feels natural and unselfconscious here, in the way that elsewhere it can sometimes be, well, not.
What about the street style? Paint us a picture.
Ha, well, I joked that I never felt so old waiting to get into Shayne Oliver's show in my review, and it's true! It's a young city and with a young attitude. What's not true is that there is a Berlin look—you know, dark and a bit gothy; I've seen hardly any of that. You certainly see lots of irony and oversized denim and firstfuls of rings and metal embellished chunky shoes, but the truth is there's really no uniform here. A spirited individualism reigns. While I was waiting to fly to Berlin, I read the excellent piece that writer Hannah Marriot did in The Guardian recently, Dressing pretty is over: this is fashion's ugly decade. It's not about this city per se, but with its discussion of the generational rejection of perfection and haphazard DIY, it might as well have been. That's all alive and well and looking fab right here in Berlin. |
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