Cover image courtesy of Berlin Fashion Week/Instagram
Battling against the freezing temperatures, the fashion week crowd brave the cold and flock to the German capital once again for a week of extraordinary design moments and class in BFW FW23. With an exciting line-up, we’ve collated a list of our favourite moments and highlights from BFW.
Der Berliner Salon
From 16-18 January, Der Berliner Salon presented an exhibition of a range of eco-friendly and sustainability-focused fashion labels, funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises. Started in 2015, Der Berlin Salon consists of specially selected, one-of-a-kind eco-conscious designers and creatives across Germany who come together to curate these exhibitions. With more than 40 labels appearing at this year’s event, Der Berliner Salon never fails to execute a brilliant showcase of the country’s diverse breadth of creativity and talent in design. The Salon was held in the Kantgaragen, a spacious location in which many other events and shows for BFW took place.
Berlin Metaverse
The exciting and innovative Berlin Metaverse returned to the digital world of BFW FW23. A collaboration of different partners and labels, the Metaverse offered immersive digital experiences in digital fashion, from an online Marketplace, to a Metaverse conference with live avatar speeches and webinars, to an NFT gallery and digital fashion shows. The endless possibilities of the digital world of fashion continue to develop at a rate we cannot keep up with, and we are beyond excited to see where this new world will take us in the in years to come.
William Fan
The designer took inspiration for this spectacular collection from the Lunar New Year, showcased on two floors of the Alhambra Berlin. The primary colour seen throughout the collection was red, as well as a mix of gold, two colours which tie in with the traditional palette of the Lunar New Year. The collection saw Chinese design influence in its Mandarin collars and cheongsam detail interspersed into the pieces.
202030 – THE BERLIN FASHION SUMMIT
The revered Berlin Fashion Summit returned to the capital once again for BFW FW23. With a packed program of panels and presentations, the summit focused on the challenging question of how the fashion and design industry can have an overall positive influence through sustainability in order to benefit both the Earth and its human population. The summit explored this with a focus on two main topics involved in the world of sustainable fashion: Regenerative Culture and Regenerative Businesses.
W.E4.
Designers Rebekka Ruétz, Marcel Ostertag, Kilian Kerner and Danny Reinke (pictured below) together planned the W.E4. show for BFW FW23 to present their new collection. Designer Kilian Kerner premiered his Symphonie collection in the Bolle Festsäle on a catwalk that stretched for more than 200m. Rebekka Ruétz’s collection gave us moody and mysterious, inspired by her home country’s well-known sport scene and made from completely recycled materials. Marcel Ostertag’s collection was filled with excitingly bold prints and a highly mixed colour palette, from clementine oversized coats, to reflective black vinyl jackets, to multi-coloured blue and green patterned floral dresses. Finally, Danny Reinke’s W.E4 collection focused in on cosier fits, with oversized furry brown boots and huge furry sleeves that hung past the model’s hands, to flowing skirts and tops that swung loosely yet elegantly on the models’ figures.
Namilia
An exciting addition to the BFW calendar, Namilia served iconic looks for their AW23 show, from black leathers with fiery orange motifs to metallic microskirts with silver chains and bold words incorporated into the design. The label is known for its sex-positive shows with provocative details, as well as gender-bending designs that blur the binary and challenge society’s constructed narrative.
Bobkova
Dedicated to the women of Ukraine who have suffered huge losses and experienced great hardship as a result of the Ukrainian war, Bobkova named this moving collection ‘Mriya’, which translates to ‘Dream’. Kristina Bobkova played with contrast throughout the collection: some pieces showcased more fluidity and emotion in the cut and colour, whereas others were more rigid and appeared almost like a piece of clothing one would see in the military, with its clean cut silhouettes and muted colour palettes.
RIANNA + NINA
With an explosive colour palette, Rianna + Nina curated a beautifully eccentric collection for BFW FW23, using unique prints and patterns, vintage fabrics and unusual accessories – a rebellious collection that dazzled us and left us aching for more.
DENNIS CHUENE
Known for making important political statements in their collections, Dennis Chuene dedicated the FW23 line to the Black Lives Matter Movement and the assassination of George Floyd. With a monochromatic colour palette, the collection highlights the struggles with racism and discrimination that POC continue to face today, with the hope of emphasising the importance of education and activism on this topic both within the fashion industry and across the globe.
