Berlin Fashion Week | New Confidence
From February 5th to 8th, the fashion industry gathered for Berlin Fashion Week to celebrate the collections, their designers, and the city's unique style. Nearly 20,000 guests from both domestic and international locations attended the 32 fashion shows and 42 side events of Berlin Fashion Week.
Creative talents, internationally relevant collections, a young and enthusiastic audience, strong collaborations with new stakeholders, and representative show locations: With the February edition, Berlin Fashion Week has successfully repositioned itself and further shaped its identity, even in comparison to international fashion weeks.
Under the principle "The responsible movement of freedom, inclusion, and creativity," Berlin Fashion Week confidently emphasized its own character over four days of events, garnering significant attention from the audience in the city, but also from the media. This attention has brought about a new relevance for fashion as an economic and image factor in Berlin.
"The Berlin Fashion Week was a resounding success with over 20,000 guests from around the world. This success is primarily due to the many talents with diverse cultural backgrounds and life stories that make our city a hub of creativity. Following the sense of new beginnings last year, there was a new sense of enthusiasm this February regarding the quality, relevance, and confidence of the event. The positive feedback we have received confirms that the fashion world is eagerly watching Berlin and following what is being created here. Berlin Fashion Week stands for freedom, inclusion, and sustainability and has carved out its solid place in the international fashion industry with this distinct Berlin profile," said Franziska Giffey, Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy, and Public Enterprises.
In the Spotlight: Strong Collections and Presentations
Creative concepts, impressive shows, and diverse model casts created wow moments throughout the city. Long queues of a young, trendsetting, and enthusiastic audience formed outside the venues. Locations such as the former C&A department store in Neukölln (Intervention), the warming-up hall of the Olympic Stadium (William Fan), B7 at Potsdamer Platz (Sia Arnika, Lou de Bètoly, LUEDER), and the sports hallof the Ernst-Reuter-Gymnasium (SF1OG) reflected the stylistic diversity of the labels and offered visitors a sightseeing tour of Berlin - enriched by the use of culturally iconic locations such as the "Gemäldegalerie" at Kulturforum (Namilia), the Bode Museum (RIANNA + NINA), and the former press café at Alexanderplatz (Olivia Ballard, Marke, DZHUS, Dennis Chuene, Bobkova, PLNGNS), made possible through collaboration with the NEWEST showcase format.
The largest part of the Fashion Week program, once again in this edition, consisted of the 18 shows of the Berlin Contemporary format, which clearly demonstrated the continuous financial support. The winners of this season (Avenir, Dennis Chuene, Kitschy Couture, Lou de Bètoly, LUEDER, Malaikaraiss, MARKE, Namilia, Olivia Ballard, RIANNA+NINA, Richert Beil, SF1OG, Sia Arnika, and William Fan, as well as the four Ukrainian labels Bobkova, DZHUS, Glück Clothes, and PLNGNS) all represented a high level of quality in terms of creativity, craftsmanship, presentations, and show productions. Some designers addressed intensely thematic issues such as trauma, escapism, or global warming, while others brought lightness with humorous details and self-irony.
Intervention: Stakeholders With Radiant Power
Intervention, the new format by the Berlin and Milan-based communications agency Reference Studios under the direction of founder Mumi Haiati, celebratedits debut this season. Highlights of the progressive program, held in a vacant department store in Neukölln, werethe shows of the labels Anonymous Club, Gerrit Jacob, and back2back, as well as the presentation of the Berlin Contemporary label LUEDER at B7 at Potsdamer Platz, all of which celebrated the interplay of fashion and art with their presentations. Particularly, the Monday evening show by New York designer Shayne Oliver (Anonymous Club) garnered global media presence. By seamlessly integrating the new format into the BFW schedule, the organizers succeeded in establishing a new atmosphere of collaboration and unity within the industry and in exciting an international audience of press, content creators, and fashion professionals about Berlin.
More Shows - More Variety
The diversity of BFW was also contributed to this February by numerous independently organized shows and presentations by labels such as Haderlump, Impari, LD-13, Maximilian Gedra, and Marina Hoermanseder. Designers Rebekka Ruetz, Marcel Ostertag, Kilian Kerner, and Danny Reinke presented their collections under the name W.E4. Fashion Day, as in the last two seasons, jointly at the Verti Music Hall.
Der Berliner Salon: Craftsmanship From Germany
An important institution for fostering talent at Berlin Fashion Week is Der Berliner Salon at the Kronprinzenpalais Unter den Linden. The group exhibition is dedicated to supporting and promoting German design and exceptional craftsmanship. The selection of 39 talents from the fields of fashion, interior, art, beauty, and accessories was again curated by Christiane Arp, the chairwoman of the Fashion Council Germany, in collaboration with Marcus Kurz, the managing director of Nowadays.
"It is incredibly fun to set up the Salon anew each season. When we launched the event 18 years ago, there wasn't the stage for designers that fashion needs to communicate. We are pleased that Berlin and BFW now offer so many stages," said Christiane Arp in her opening speech on Monday.
Side Events: Fashion Moments Across Berlin
Additional events such as the 202030 Pop-up focusing on sustainability, the Fireside Dinner at Grill Royal, David Koma's P100 Press Day, and the numerous store and showroom events as part of the B2C format Studio2Retail provided exciting fashion moments, street styles, and energy throughout the city. With independent side events in studios, stores, and courtyards, local brands and collectives like Platte Berlin, as well as large companies like Happy Socks, utilized the creative power of Berlin Fashion Week, attracting fashion enthusiasts beyond the business to Berlin.
The next Berlin Fashion Week will take place from July 1st to 4th, 2024!
Spring/Summer 2025 Edition
The image material of the Berlin Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2024 edition is available for download in the official Media Hub.
About Berlin Fashion Week
Founded in 2007, Berlin Fashion Week takes place twice a year and has established itself as a strong economic driver and constant source of inspiration. Each season, the BFW calendar represents the bold narrative of Berlin fashion and attracts an international, renowned audience consisting of press, buyers, industry experts and creatives with a mix of runway shows, presentations and interactive side events.
Berlin Fashion Week offers designers and organizers a platform and is characterized by the diversity and individuality of its independent supporters. Since its foundation, the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises has been actively involved and supports a variety of different formats of Berlin Fashion Week. Special attention is paid to the promotion of up-and-coming talent.