Berlin Fashion Week Picks Up Momentum
MITTE, Berlin– Striking white light illuminated mannequins that were dressed in styles that ranged from black, distressed blazers to a gown adorned with hand-twisted silk flowers. Hand crocheted bags sat on some tables and small-batch made perfume on others.
It was the launch of Berlin Fashion Week, which gives locally-based designers a platform and has been steadily gaining prominence within Germany’s fashion scene.
One of these designers is Victoria Schimpf, the founder, creator, and craftsperson behind Lanuk Studios, a crochet accessory brand that uses 100% recycled materials. Schimpf, who is from the Black Forest in the southwest corner of Germany, began conceptualizing her brand a year ago and took it live in September of 2022. She is the sole proprietor and employee of the business, behind everything from the concepts to the physical creation of the pieces.
“It’s a one-woman show for now,” she said.
Schimpf’s bags were expertly arranged on a table, all punchy colors and thick weaving. Under her shoulder, she had situated a Lanuk piece, a hot pink bag with a plumeria flower clip added to the strap. A bouquet of pastel colored baby’s breath also sat on the table, complementing the colors she had used in the various materials of the bags.
Schimpf is committed to using recycled materials and sees sustainability as the biggest priority for the fashion industry, a priority that was a major theme throughout this year’s Berlin Fashion Week.
“Sustainability is one of the biggest priorities, so that’s why I use recycled materials,” she said. “It’s a priority for me and should be for other brands.”
Australia’s UGG shoe brand displayed five entries for its Culture Changemaker Prize. UGG is offering a $40,000 grant, to be awarded in October, to a designer who best reimagines the well-known UGG ‘Classic Mini’ shoe, keeping in mind the values of sustainability and craftsmanship. One was a striking combination of white fur and Apple device chargers that keeps the classic shape associated with the shoe, evoking nature and animals and a high-tech future all at once.
Another Berlin-based designer is Annika Tibando, who is the face behind the luxury label International Citizen. Tibando describes her brand as “Berlin– influenced, with a New York City sensibility.” International Citizen ensures its sources and suppliers have various ecological certifications.
International Citizen’s pieces often feature chakra crystals, both hidden within the fabric and exposed. She says she approaches creating her pieces with “intentionality” and “sustainability.”
“It’s about being actually authentic and true in the way you do it,” she said.
Later in the week, upcycling brand AVENIR held a runway show at St. Elisabeth Church. The first model walked out and paused in the middle of the church, where you might typically find an altar. Her bodice was made of hair that twisted around her torso, matching fiery red locks that fell from her head. The provocative top was offset by a pair of light orange pants, but her feet were clad in a pair of sandals that also appeared to be made of hair. Hair featured prominently throughout the show, which straddled the line between modeling and performance art.
“An element that connects us all — our body hair — is the foundational touchstone for the pre-performance,” the ethics-driven fashion brand said in a press release. “Hair offers a duality to the viewer and wearer. Both possessed and coveted, the material represents ideas of intimacy, religiosity, and intense political idealization through AVENIR’s interpretative lens.”
In addition to the hair, the Spring Summer 24 collection included much denim, which was intended as a gender-aware political and social statement by the brand.
“Since denim’s revolutionary re-appropriation — from blue jeans in a male-dominated workwear environment to miniskirts worn by women’s rights activists in the 1960s — the material has always been coded with the semiotic possibility of liberation from the patriarchal system,” AVENIR said in a press release.
Techno music thumped in the background as AVENIR’s show came to a close amid a lengthy round of applause.
Fashion week attendee Chloe Marten, a content creator who has been living in Berlin for the past two years, came to the fashion exhibition to support various designer friends of hers. In her time attending BFW, she has noticed a growth in the event.
“It’s cool that Berlin has a fashion week,” she said. “Year to year, it’s getting bigger, which is amazing for Berlin-based designers.”
Sierra van der Brug is a communication and English student at UC Santa Barbara. She is pursuing a minor in journalistic writing and is currently reporting from Berlin as part of ieiMedia’s “Berlin Beyond Borders” editorial team.
