Why is Fashion Week in Berlin so international?

EWindbreaker would probably be the right thing for outside on this stormy Tuesday. Inside, in the premises of the trendy agency Reference Studios on Potsdamer Straße, rhinestones glitter from the padded shoulders of a sculptural blazer, wool and feathers are dyed pink, and the designer David Koma is not only setting the mood this afternoon with the collection, but also During the tour he credibly asserts that he considers Berlin to be one of the best places in the world, even in February. Berlin is – “feel good”. You have to let that sink in first. “The gray, the architecture, I can relax here.”

David Koma, born in Tbilisi in 1985 and based in London with his label since the noughties, is in the city for the first time with his work, and he is not the only designer from elsewhere present these days. Berlin Fashion Week has been buried many times in its own country, but it is still alive, and apparently the prophecies of doom from Düsseldorf and Munich do not reach London and Paris. In the latter city, the German Yolanda Zobel was previously responsible for Courrèges; She came to Berlin for the debut of her label back2back with design partner Marcelo Alcaide.

There is the busy founder of Reference Studios, Mumi Haiati, who brings such people here. There is also the Fashion Council Germany (FCG), which has been promoting Berlin here and elsewhere for years and supporting young labels. And there is also the committed Berlin State Secretary Michael Biel (SPD), whose Senate Department for Economic Affairs supports the fashion week with four million euros annually. The majority of the labels selected for this may come from here and should continue to grow here. Malaikaraiss, Rianna + Nina, William Fan have already proven that you can make your presence felt from Berlin.

In addition to the designs from fashion designers from London and Paris, fashion from four Ukrainian labels can also be seen this week. “We work in the center of Kiev,” says designer Kristina Bobkova after her show. “Missile alarms are part of our everyday lives. But we want to make art even in war, and we have to work.” With her fashion, Bobkova wants to show the landscape from a bird’s eye view. Loose knits are intended to evoke a view of Ukrainian grain fields, chains of dried plums. Her keyword for the collection is: harvest. This is actually a nice metaphor for fashion entrepreneurial hopes.