Rita Zubatov about the wild Berlin fashion
Fashion editor Wonderzine went to Berlin to visit Fashion Week, the Bread & Butter and Premium trade show, and find out how they differ from dozens of others. After thinking about the impressions, Rita tells that Berlin fashion is so organically woven into a free, strange, beautiful and ugly city that it even fades into the background.
Rita Zubatova
From the young Berlin fashion scene I was expecting a dozen brands that create perfect concise clothing and, conversely, beat the canons, focusing on the work of local avant-garde artists Bless and Bernhard Willhelm. All this was, but the main thing (and the first one) turned out to be different. Stimulates, breaks into a thousand ideas, gives complete freedom and drives those designers crazy - the city itself.
Locals say they have come, fascinated by the ugliness and beauty of Berlin. Buildings preserved after the war side by side with ascetic white “boxes”, idyllic tables with umbrellas in the Hacksky courtyards - with dilapidated clubs in Kreuzberg. In the subway, we see a silver-covered showman-cop who is already slipping from the bench with a bottle in his hand, but still trying to pick up the girl next to him. The next day there is a fashion designers show. At night, all Bohemia jumps in a club resembling a bunker. The next morning you see her on the Perret Schaad show in the beautiful building of the New National Gallery. When you live your weekend here, understand the geometric patchwork of Vladimir Karaleev, Bless combs and minimalist Michael Sontag dresses become easier. They are completely different, but after all, Berlin itself is different.
Designer Sisi Goetz says that she graduated from Central Saint Martins in London, but came back. Berlin gives her more freedom both morally and commercially. Here you can rent a studio for 300 euros per month and do what you want without thinking about what the demand is now in the market and whether your product stands out among the other five hundred brands presented at the World Fashion Week. What to say about the rhythm of life. While the stereotype about the punctuality of the Germans seems to be confirmed (meetings, shows, presentations began not a minute after the appointed time), the atmosphere for creativity, in general, is more relaxed here than anywhere else. You feed off the energy of the city, walk through endless galleries, streets with painted houses, apartments with wild design and make a product. You come to the presentation not to see the strained worldly smiles, but to have a drink with friends, to talk and present the collection to them (and other nice people). Everything is so simple that during the show the guests are standing: there are no benches, rows and places. The show lasts five minutes, and why offended someone for them?
During the Fashion Week in the city there are several exhibitions of clothes. I arrive at Bread & Butter right after the Florentine Pitti Uomo. Instead of grandly strolling men in three-piece suits, disheveled guys in caps canopy back and bomber jackets roam here. He plays the annoying Daft Punk album, which still makes consultants in different corners jerk, beer is poured into the backyard and sandwiches are made, young designers complain to each other about how once the Turkish district of Kreuzberg became wildly expensive, it’s impossible to maintain a studio, but also place on the B & B need to give a pretty penny. At another Berlin exhibition, the setting for a fashion event (which is what people used to see in Europe and, in particular, in Russia) is even more absurd: here, next to the collections of international brands American Retro, Paul & Joe, Elisabeth & James are side by side, guys shouting about cleanliness the world and selling tomatoes in pots. Visitors sit on boards piled next to the pavilion, and drink pina colada, taken in the True Religion corner. We join: you don't want to leave.
