photo: Oliver Rath
Last week a very special event that I have anticipated a lot happened at Volksbühne Berlin on the big stage of this prestigious theatre. Esther Perbandt, one of my favorite avant-garde designers in Berlin, celebrated the 10th anniversary of her label. Knowing beforehand what she had planned for this special occasion I was super excited.
I was one of the few photographers that were installed on stage right in the middle of the show, so I saw everything up close. When the big curtain opened the light stayed off and an eclectic experimental sound choir began to sing hauntingly. The mood was set perfectly. After a while the lights came on a contemporary dancer dressed in Perbandt gave a performance in the vain of Valeska Gert, the inspiration for Esther’s new collection titled Grotesque. It was great to see fashion combined with dance in such a theatrical manner. Once the dance was over the runway show started and models came from the side walking into the audience and back. Seeing it from the back with all the lights and people in the background was really stunning and the excellent electronic music that was playing really gave me goosebumps. What a fucking cool show! And the collection was also great to look at, the best one she has done so far for sure.
Once the show was over Esther came out with her assistant with confetti rain and standing ovations. It was such a moment of glory. As if having your name spelled across one of the most impressive buildings in town isn’t already enough this show was probably the biggest highlight of her entire career. Right after the curtains closed I gave Esther a hug and she was still shaking of excitement. Very understandable! For me it was one of the best shows that I have seen in all of the years that I went to Berlin Fashion Week.
After the jump we have 3 photo sets for you from this amazing event. On page one we have backstage photos by our guest contributor Olga Khristolyubova, on page two we have the runway photos by Oliver Rath and on page 3 we have photos from the big after show party by me. Enjoy!
photos: Olga Khristolyubova
Fashion show photos on page 2! Aftershow party photos on page 3!
