Berlin Fashion Week

The first month of the new year is slowly coming to an end and therefore Berlin Fashion Week is already over, too. Fashion shows, presentations, time with friends: I spent two wonderful days in Berlin with Mercedes-Benz. Check out today’s blogpost for a little Fashion Week Berlin recap.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Talents

Merceds-Benz has been supporting the fashion industry internationally for 25 years now. You can read more about their fashion engagement in a previous blogpost here.

Four design newcomers from South Africa kicked off fashion week with a cool group presentation. The group show is part of the“Mercedes-Benz Fashion Talents“ programme, that has been supporting upcoming designers build an international audience for more than ten years now.
The four designers presented their collections with a stunning show on the catwalk at Kraftwerk Berlin.

I really love the new fashion week location with its cool and urban setting, offering plenty of space, not only for shows, but also for public presentation areas.
For a few seasons now, Mercedes-Benz has tried to be more open to consumers, by offering open presentations and live streams. The main fashion shows however, are still aimed at an audience of influencers, press and buyers.

Designs from South Africa

The four designers from South Africa are Floyd Avenue, Clive Rundle, Rich Mnisi and Viviers Studio. I really liked the group presentation. It was super colorful and imposing.

Floyd Avenue showed a very expressive men’s collection with clean and strictly cut jackets and cool utility pants, a lot of denim and waxed cotton – mostly in muted colors. Many of the fabrics Rich Mnisi used for his collection, came from Europe. Upcycling of material scraps is the motto. His collection is very bold: intense colors, eye-catching applications, graphic pattern, layering and deconstructed proportions.

Clive Rundle has been working in the fashion industry for many years now and is already one of the most renowned fashion designers in South Africa. He also uses a lot of high-quality scraps of material that have been recycled in Johannesburg for his collections. Flowing fabrics, avant-garde and futuristic designs – high quality tailoring.

The designs by Lezanne Viviers formed the grand final of the show. Together with her team in Johannesburg, she weaves most of her fabrics by hand. In addition, she processes many remaining stock of fabrics from European designers in her collections.
Lezanne Viviers uses strong contrasts throughout her whole collection. Intense and bold colors meet matt and shiny fabrics.

In South Africa, sustainability is not just a necessity. Rather, it is a matter of course.

 Odeeh show

My personal highlight this season was the Odeeh show. The designer duo, Otto Drögsler and Jörg Ehrlich stand for extravagant and contrasting designs. The whole collection plays with the feminine silhouette and striking, colorful prints. Odeeh is very elegant but can be just as strict and formal. Beautiful graphic textile designs meet rough denim, traditional tailoring is combined with experimental designs. Odeeh presented a lot of layering looks, flowing materials and decorative bows.

As Part of the show, Odeeh not only presented its fashion collection, but also the result of its cooperation with eyewear label Neubau eyewear. All glasses were manufactured, using a resource-saving 3D printing process. Technology and design meet a sustainable production method.

I wore a complete Odeeh outfit for the fashion show and absolutely loved it. It reflects the typical Odeeh look: tailored pants meet experimental and bold top.