Berlin makes a successful start into the year 2020

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is satisfied with new location

Berlin's most important platform for the fashion shows, the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, sees the move to the Kraftwerk as a success: "Designers, partners and trade visitors have recognized and highly praised the newly designed platform as a major development of the show format since its relaunch in 2018”, says the MBFW press release. More than 11,000 trade visitors came to the shows of the Autumn/Winter 2020 edition of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

On the upper floor of the Kraftwerk was the catwalk setting, where the designers could stage their presentations individually. This show venue was complemented by the Studio, a show­case with an installational character on the ground floor. Newcomers and established labels, sustainable, international and high-end fashion designers were on the MBFW's show sched­ule and formed a market-oriented, exciting mixture.

The MBFW was kicked off this season by the fashion talents from South Africa. The four newcomers from South Africa, Clive Rundle, Rich Mnisi, Floyd Avenue and Viviers Studio, presented an impressive group show with strong colour contrasts and predominant gold tones as part of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Talents promotional programme.

Support your Local Heroes

There was also a special highlight on the ground floor of the Kraftwerk: on a presentation platform, Mercedes-Benz and the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises /Project Future gave six Berlin designers the chance to show their keylooks at the "Local Heroes" exhibition. The designers Julia Leifert, Vladimir Karaleev, Marcel Ostertag, Steinrohner, Brachmann and Isabell Vollrath were sponsored. The Senate Department also supported the fashion shows of the fashion labels DSTM, Last Heirs and Nobi Talai.

Inspirierende Looks: Wir investieren in junge Mode-Talente aus Berlin: dieses Jahr die Local Heroes @philozanetti@MarcelOstertag@steinrohner Isabell Vollrath und das Label Brachmann #berlinfashionweekpic.twitter.com/G0o6Ftlniq

— Ramona Pop (@RamonaPop) January 14, 2020

Above the roofs of Berlin to the legendary club

The fact that Berlin, in addition to the Kraftwerk, where the MBFW shows took place, also has other effective locations to offer was demonstrated among other things by the labels Lou de Bètoly, Dawid Tomaszewski and #Damur with their shows and presentations.

While the Berlin designer Dawid Tomaszewski staged his Chromatic Constellation in the popular Berlin nightclub Prince Charles, the designer Odély Teboul lured the professional audience to the 21st floor of the former Postscheckamt. With a fantastic view over the roof­tops of Kreuzberg, she presented the new Lou de Bètoly collection "Bourgeoibstrus", which is extravagant, provocative and hedonistic, yet with more covered skin than was previously usual with her collections.

The designer Shih-Shun Huang was also drawn to a Berlin club. He invited the guests of his show to the Griesmühle, where he showed his Autumn/Winter 2020 collection with the motto #naughtybutelegant and reminded the audience of the early 1990s in Berlin with the produc­tion under the motto "Berlin Republic".

More than just a fair

For the first time this season the well-known fairs Selvedgerun & Zeitgeist, Panorama and Neonyt took place at the former airport in Tempelhof. On about 20,000 square metres on the airfield and in Hangars 5 and 6, visitors were greeted by brands with relevance and strong messages and a focus on sustainability.

Jörg Wichmann, CEO of Panorama Berlin, was very positive after the kick-off and once again appealed for a joint location with the formats of the Premium Group: "We have launched a strong event concept and have made good progress in following the industry's desire to unite platforms at one location. Tempelhof is the most beautiful location in Europe and opens up all the possibilities of a "central fashion hub" as regards its usability and expandability.”

Neonyt also reports success at the new location. With more than 210 sustainable fashion brands from 22 countries, Neonyt gathered more sustainable fashion brands than ever before from 14 to 16 January 2020 and also doubled the number of trade visitors compared with January 2019.
At the international Neonyt conference format Fashionsustain, the focus was on the topic "air", which was discussed in about 50 keynote speeches, panel discussions and master classes on the Fashionsustain stage. Among the speakers were representatives of Armedangels, circular.fashion, Fashion Revolution, Fridays for Future, YKK and Zalando as well as partners such as ClimatePartner, Fashion Council Germany, hessnatur, re:publica and Textilwirtschaft. With its strong and focused concept, Neonyt once again placed the topic of sustainability prominently in the spotlight.

The two fairs of Premium Exhibitions GmbH remained true to their proven venues. Premium was once again held at the “Gleisdreieck” in the halls of the former Postbahnhof. The area for the sustainable brands was moved behind the main entrance and thus became the focus of attention. Sustainability was also discussed on the second day in the Literally Talking Space, where the topic "Responsible Future" was addressed in table talks and discussion groups. Maren Wiebus, Fashion Director of SEEK, was also satisfied with the January edi­tion: "A lot has happened at SEEK. The team has done a great job. With new, strong brands we have broadened our horizons without smoothing out our angular character that makes SEEK so special. The FASHIONTECH Studio took place for the first time and the new input was very well received.”

Michael Stracke, the chief business development manager of the Fashiontech Berlin conference, also rated the January season as a success: "Moving closer to PREMIUM was absolutely the right decision. We are very pleased that Telekom Fashion Fusion as well as Stefanie Giesinger, Marcus Butler and Mike Mikkelborg took the opportunity to launch new, super innovative products on our stage. "

There was also a celebration

In the city, which is known for its celebratory culture like no other, the Party by Dandydiary is also a must for Fashion Week. In addition to the ever-changing, innovative and creative con­cepts of the major event organizers, the legendary parties of the dandies are an integral part of Berlin Fashion Week. This year the party was held under the motto "Church of Metropol". This time the visitors were sent through "Heaven's Gate" and on a spiritual party journey with uniform sect clothing. This is Berlin.

Don’t forget: The next Berlin Fashion Week is from June 28th to July 5th.