Maison Mason, photo: Daniel Gebhardt
Berlin is one of the most versatile capitals of the world when it comes to all its locations. It was fun to have been thrown in this little town with no previous knowledge – I still remember setting foot on Kottbusser Tor for the first time, entirely by chance, way more appalled than inspired, completely unaware of Kreuzberg’s undeniable magic that I’d grow addicted to.
photos: Sebastian Pollin
Even though Berlin sometimes is dominated by shades of grey there are often splashes of color coming up like shimmers of hope. The Berlin Alternative Fashion Week is one of those shimmers. No other fashion event in Berlin has ever managed to bring so much color, creativity, happiness and humor into one place. I’m so glad that we have this event in our city, proving that Berlin is the fruitful soil for a spectrum of fashion that is beyond fast fashion and commercial brands. Beloved Berlin-based designers such as Tata Christiane, Maison Mason, Tzuji and UY show their expressive collections here together with many newcomers and international designers. For me one of the big highlights this season was the sculptural collection of Justyna Koeke who created dresses modeled after children’s drawings. The elaborate and playful gowns were beautifully presented on senior models, what a fantastic presentation this was! And of course Russian artist Andrey Bartenev’s Bubbles of Hope parade in the end was once again an unforgettable finale that made everyone jump up from their seats. Principal sponsor airberlin has chosen wisely to support this wonderful platform of creativity and positivity for so many seasons now and we are forever grateful.
Fashion photographer Sebastian Pollin went backstage to capture some of the most amazing looks and he described the experience as a paradise of photo opportunities. And looking at the photos he seems to be more than right!
photos: Fredrik Altinell
Of all the big cities in the world, Berlin appears to be somehow mainly one thing: an alternative. Not just another option, an alternative. An alternative to the high-pressure in New York, to the expensive prices in Paris, to the suboptimal living conditions in London. Berlin in itself offers so many alternatives. Every culture has a counter culture here. You have the choice to go along with the mainstream, or to take an alternative route. You have the big Berlinale Film Festival with very few women directors, writers and producers taking part, and than there is the Feminist Film Week. You have all the big theater stages with your typical theater fair, and than there are all these small independent ones showing highly progressive and experimental pieces. You have heaps of conventional night clubs and bars, and you have those where you can appear naked or have sex in the middle of the dance floor.
And of course you have the official Berlin Fashion Week with celebrity craze and commercial labels, with its counter part being the Berlin Alternative Fashion Week that brings young, eccentric and creative designers into the limelight. Exactly this BAFW stands as a perfect example for the parallel worlds inside Berlins fashion scene. I have personally been to both, and I can tell you the audiences they attract couldn’t be further apart from each other. If you don’t believe me, believe your eyes this coming Friday and Saturday when their runway shows dedicated to recycled and avant-garde fashion, respectively, take place.
Re-cycle Collection
It’s time for another edition of the Berlin Alternative Fashion Week – some exciting days are awaiting us! A week with lots of cool parties and catwalks which are very special and totally different from the regular Fashion Week. Young designers get the chance to present their fashion and there is no limit to creativity – on the contrary, the more outrageous and crazy the designs are, the more the viewers heart will be delighted. This week music, art and fashion merge into an alternative concept – it’s about freedom, gender roles and a new identity. Many designers offer innovative, sustainable work – and that’s a great opportunity for the young participants to be encouraged in their work and to still be able to remain free in their development and creativity.
The Berlin Alternative Fashion Week takes place for the third time in Berlin – starting on the 23rd and ending on September 27, 2015. The presentations will take place at the Postbahnhof, the opening party is at Maze and together with Apollo.tv there will be a presentation of short films and documentaries on Sunday.
Last time we had a lot of fun and discovered great new designers – we’re sure that the concept this time will be stunning as well. See the teaser by Apollo.tv and a preview of the designers and get your chance to win festival tickets after the jump.
photos: Alicia Kassebohm
Last Saturday the Berlin Alternative Fashion Week took its second spin. The focus of this fashion event outside the regular international fashion week schedule is on fashion that break the restrictions of wearability. Our guest author and photographer Alicia Kassebohm took a few impressions from the shows of Ivana Pilja, Field of Ponies, Bas Kosters Studio und Roman Ermakov as well as some backstage images. Discover the unconventional side of fashion after the click.
Nadia + Zehra
This weekend the Berlin Alternative Fashion Week is happening for the second time and proving once more that fashion can be fun, eccentric and crazy. The first edition back in October 2014 was a total blast and took us by surprise with really amazing and entertaining shows. It’s great we finally have a platform in Berlin, that supports young and unconventional fashion that focusses on artistic and creative expression and not so much on commercial success. We loved the designers and their playful concepts to present their collections on the runway and we can’t wait to see the new shows. This time the BAFW has a program of 4 days starting this Thursday with an opening party at TRUST bar, a screening of Apollo.tv at the Nhow Hotel on Friday, a set of 3 runway shows between 14 and 23h at Postbahnhof on Saturday, and the Haute runway show at Nhow Hotel on Sunday. After the jump we have some previews of the partaking designers and a teaser video for you and we also give you the chance to win 2×2 VIP tickets for the entire festival that also includes entry for an exclusive party at Nhow Hotel. Enjoy!
photos: Olga Khristolyubova
On Saturday the fashion scene of Berlin got a brand new playground. The Berlin Alternative Fashion Week is dedicated to those designers that like to break out of conventions, that dare to be crazy, colorful, fun and sexy and have a good sense of humor and self-ironie. It was really a pleasure both for the eyes and for the heart to see models smiling and dancing and the catwalk, women with curves, men with silver hair, boys on heels, and I don’t even know how to put that crazy spectacular finale of Andrey Bartenev into words, but it was indeed spectacular and will not be forgotten so easily by the audience. The fashion was definately fun to look at, some really impressive, some a bit more on the trashy side, but really always entertaining. But have a look for yourself after the jump where we have some a lot of amazing impressions by our talented contributing photographer Olga Khristolyubova. Enjoy!
Last week saw the premiere of the brand new Berlin Alternative Fashion Week that celebrated its highlight on Saturday with two fully loaded and spectacular runway presentations showing the wild and fun side of fashion. It was really an amazing experience to see all these colorful and excentric individuals coming together. Berlin-based photographer Sebastian Pollin took a look backstage for us before all the magic started on the catwalk. Follow him on Facebook for more fashion photos. Enjoy his colorful impressions from behind the scenes of the Berlin Alternative Fashion Week after the jump. A set with show photos will follow tomorrow so stay tuned for more!
Next week on Wednesday the brand new Berlin Alternative Fashion Week launches its first edition with a colorful program of parties, shows, talks and a designer market. After several years of doing events during the official Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin and the German Press Days we were of course excited about another opportunity to get our hands in the pie so we decided to host a new event during this new Fashion Week.
It is something that we meant to do for a long time but never came around to do it: Turn our Cinéma de Mode online column that we featured here on iHeartBerlin.de for many years before moving over to our partner Two For Fashion into a live event in a real cinema. So we asked our friends from the Berlin Fashion Film Festival to contribute some films, as well as the designers of the Berlin Alternative Fashion Week and mixed it with our own selection of our favorite films of the new genre and the result is going to be an entertaining program of fashionable short films and videos featuring Hollywood stars such as Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett and Christopher Walken for your viewing pleasure. Together with our friends from Two For Fashion we will invite you into the cinema of the former culturual institute of Czechoslowakia at Leizpziger Str. 60 (entrance Jerusalemer Str.) on Thursday October 2nd at 20h to enjoy our films of the Cinéma de Mode.
To get you into the mood we want to show you today the latest hyped fashion film about the selfie culture by Matthew Frost featuring Kirsten Dunst, as well as Frost’s previous other amazing films after the jump.
Tata Christiane
It was about time: Berlin is getting an alternative fashion event for the official Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The first edition of the Berlin Alternative Fashion Week is happening in the first week of October 2014 and will include an array of events on several days such as fashion presentations, a designer market, TEDx talks and fashion parties. The fashion that is being showcased and sold here is quite different from what we are used to from the official Berlin Fashion Week that usually happens in January and July each year. The organizers of the event describe it as alternative while I like to call it avant-garde, progressive and artistic. One of our favorite carzy Berlin designers is going to be part of the show: Tata Christiane, as well as a couple of really excentric international designers and Berlin newcomer Alles. So far only 8 of the participating designers have been revealed on the brand new website with more to come in the following weeks. To celebrate the start of a new platform for Berlin’s creative fashion scene the makers are throwing a big launch party this Friday at Urban Spree. Come by get a taste of what’s to come in October. Get a preview of the first announced designers after the jump.