Berlin has a new space and platform for emerging local designers and what better to put yourself onto the map with the most exciting fashion show during this week’s Berlin Fashion Week. PLATTE is a project dedicated to supporting the fashion scene of Berlin in a sustainable way by offering space, structure, and expertise to upcoming local designers and brands. The makers of PLATTE are dear of colleagues of iHeartBerlin that have over a decade of experience in the field. Sevil Uguz is the founder of LNFA which is a network and fashion store for local brands at Bikini Berlin, and Arne Eberle is a Berlin Fashion Week veteran and co-founder of OE Magazine.
In their amazing space at Memhardstraße, they will host pop-up stores, workshops, showrooms, exhibitions, events and so much more. With their first event that happened on Tuesday, they gave a preview of what’s to come and their focus on working in an interdisciplinary way. They invited members of the Berlin ballroom scene to curate a runway show of a different kind. Housemother Ambrosia from the Kiki House of Angels brought together a cast of diverse performers who proofed that models can have any size, shape, and identity and look fabulous on the runway. And European housefather David from the house of Milan put together the choreography for the show that would have spectators gagging later on.
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by Frank | Fashion, Party
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There’s no other way to put it, but this summer is just special. There has never been so much anticipation and so much longing to be together and have fun together as right now. Finally getting to meet friends and family again, going to events, and partying together feels infinitely good and we can hardly believe our luck right now.
To bring the current joyfulness a bit to the top, today we have the pleasure to announce a particularly exciting cooperation. Together with our longtime partner Absolut Vodka, with whom we have already done countless actions in the course of our 14-year history, such as various great visits to the Lollapalooza Festival or a trip to Sweden for a special Midsommar party, we invite you to the Absolut WeTopia Creative Open Air – for free and exclusive!
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by Frank | Events
Last week, we had the absolute pleasure to co-present the first IRL Voguing Ball in Berlin since the lockdown. It was hosted by the charming David Milan who already gave us the big Pride Ball and Ocean Ball last year that we also covered. The venue was once again the Säälchen at Holzmarkt – it’s just the perfect venue for a ball of this size!
The theme of this ball was Superheroes which was without a doubt the most specific and playful theme of the series. Of course there were a lot of classic superheroes and villains such as Spiderman and Catwoman. But the call for participation asked people to be creative, so you could also see everyday heroes such as nurses, single moms, activists – we even saw the first trans presidential candidate there.
As we are still living in a pandemic the circumstance for the event was quite different: Usually, over 1000 people show up for these balls, but to comply with the current legal safety measures this time only the participants and a few fellow house members were allowed into the venue. The usual spectators were able to watch a professional live stream of the ball either from the comfort of their homes or at the public viewing at Neuzeit Ost in collaboration with Mobile Kino. The required distancing and face mask rules also had to be respected, which was hard during the performances when the energy of the voguers was taking over, but I think the crowd did a fairly good job at complying.
It was a great ball, with a lot of stunning performances, great international participants, and a powerful audience. Of course, we took some impressions for you which you can enjoy below!
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by Frank | Party, Photos
Do you miss experiencing and cheering at a proper Voguing Ball as much as I do? There have been many cancellations in the Berlin ballroom scene, but the Charity Voguing Ball of Superheroes does it differently! The ball is hosted by David from the Kiki House of Angels and European Father of the House of Milan and will be brought to you guys as a shared experience with drinks and snacks to enjoy together with fellow ballroom fans as a Livestream screened at Neuzeit Ost followed by a secret queer movie screening.
You’ve never been to a voguing ball? Then this is the perfect event to get to know the heart of it. Our author Valerie explains the Voguing scene in more detail here. To get a visual taster you should check out our colorful animated photo sets from last year’s Pride Ball and Ocean Ball that should give you an impression of what a Voguing Ball feels like. If you want to understand more about the different categories, have a look at our Ballroom Guide.
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by Franziska | Events
While everyone and their mom are currently on voluntary house arrest (you better be!) we’re already running out of ideas what to do at home. It’s not that there isn’t an endless list of possible chores we could finally get to now that we really have no more excuses left anymore. But honestly, we’re close to losing our mind, so clearly now is not the time for chores…
It’s just been a week or two depending on when you started, but somehow now, time decided to pass really slowly right now, so we’re filled with nostalgia of better days and a real sense of withdrawal from all our usual activities and adventures in Berlin’s bars, stages and clubs.
While the club scene has successfully transitioned into the digital space with their United We Stream, we’re missing all the fun cultural entertainment from our favorite queer darlings from the world of comedy, drag, performance, and voguing. But luckily, those bitches ain’t sleeping, within a week many of them have come up with streaming alternatives to their regular shows and we are HERE FOR IT! This way we won’t miss the cute Darvish, the hilarious Daniel-Ryan, the fantastic Venus Boys and many more…
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by Frank | Events
On Saturday the Ballroom scene of Berlin came together for a very special charity Ball hosted by the lovely David Angels Milan and Oliver Jopke. Following his super colorful and fun Pride Ball back in July, this was only his second Ball here in Berlin, but a massive one at that with around 1000 guests attending! The theme of the night was the ocean. In a time of climate awareness, it was a poignant gesture to this important ecosystem. But it was not just a gesture, in fact, all proceeds at the door were fully donated to the Ocean Now organization that campaigns for the protection and recovery of the oceans. We hear that it was the proud sum of 4.800 EUR that came together for this purpose.
The ocean theme, of course, saw many Voguers come up with their best oceanic outfits – we saw mermaids in fishnets, penguins, starfish, lots of shimmering scales and flowy blue fabrics. Commenting on the tragic state of pollution of the oceans there were also a couple of outfits assembled of bottles, bags and other plastic trash. The photographers of fabulous Tush Magazine were in the house as they were media partners of the event and they had quite a lot to photograph with all these crazy looks. The winners of each category did not only take home their trophies but also the latest issue of Tush as well as goodies by sponsors Bumble BFF, Weekday and The Moxy.
If you want to learn more about all the different categories and rules of Balls you should check out the recent Ballroom guide that we photographed with some members from the House of Angels. Below you’ll find our photos and GIFs from the Ocean Ball. Enjoy!
If you’re wondering when the next Ball is taking place check out our Events page and look out for the Black Magic Ball at Gorki.
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by Frank | Party, Photos
The Ballroom scene of Berlin is on fire right now! Never have there been more balls happening with new events popping up every other week. It’s exciting to see the enthusiasm of the young generation and how they rise up to create their own gatherings.
After we had so much fun at the last ball hosted by the charming David Angels Milan during Pride, we teamed up with him for his next ball Voguing for the Ocean that is happening this coming Saturday at Säälchen. The oceanic theme is not just meant as a dress code for the outfits of the Voguers, the event is also a charity fundraiser for the organization Ocean Now that is campaigning to protect this important ecosystem. Voguing for a good cause!
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by Frank | Stories
The Ballroom scene might very well be my favorite thing about Berlin’s nightlife right now. I’m so happy there is a lot of movement going on at the moment with multiple voguing workshops taking place and balls happening more regularly. If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about you can read up on the ballroom culture and voguing in some earlier pieces of us here and here.
This last Friday the magnificent David Milan from the House of Milan hosted his very first ball here in Berlin at Säälchen in conjunction with Pride Week and with support by Coca-Cola and Eastpak. It was a beautiful spectacle that united all the colors of the rainbow (literally and metaphorically) under one roof. The runway was on fire that night with some of the best outfits and performances I have seen in a while. I just love how regular outfit rules of Berlin’s club scene are totally turned upside down with people going for bold, colorful, extravagant and camp instead of the trendy, sporty all-black style. For me, the voguers are like the coolest people that I can imagine, but at the same time they are very welcoming and accepting of all kinds of people, so you will see a very diverse crowd embracing different identities, cultures, and shapes at their events.
The crowd of the Pride Ball was no exception, so much beauty, my camera could not have been happier. Of course, I took tons of photos and I created probably the biggest series of animated GIFs that I ever did for an event. I’m already excited for the next ball (which is happening at Schwuz on August 23) and also look forward to more movement in the ballroom culture of Berlin.
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by Frank | Party, Photos
Coming from the queer black and latin underground culture of New York over 50 years ago the Ball Culture took a long time to finally arrive in good old Berlin. Thanks to the famous Paris Is Burning documentary and – yes, maybe also because of that one Madonna song – the Ballroom Community and more specifically one of its disciplines – Voguing – have surfaced from the subculture into the mainstream, also spreading the concept into many major cities in the world. Learn more about the history of voguing in this earlier iHeart feature.
In Berlin, one of the major independent theaters has embraced the local Ball Culture inviting it onto its stage. Together with the Berlin Ballroom Community, the Hebbel Am Ufer manages to successfully melt the intimate world of Ballrooms with the extroverted world of performance art. It’s a fantastic spectacle that let’s a wider audience get a peek into an otherwise quite private world, encouraging people who are curious about Voguing to join a House or even form a new one. Berlin already has a couple of “Houses” which is how a group of Voguers is called that form a fabulous little family.
This past Saturday we had the chance to join the Opulence Ball at HAU2 and of course, we wouldn’t miss the opportunity to take a couple of photos and animated GIFs. Enjoy the show!
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by Frank | Party, Photos, Theater
Art is a form of compensation, while life is a source of continuous trauma. But is performative art like dance enough of a release to be therapeutic to the spectator and the performer alike? Either way, visiting Roderick George’s new piece “Fleshless Beast” at Sophiensaele feels like falling into an active group therapy session with an entire squad of hungry demons.
Movements that represents oppression, formations that create agony, gestures that mimic pressure. Some hidden, some full in your face. This piece brings you to a certain point of anxiety with different elements of dance, music, and words combined. Visually stimulating it feels like a rollercoaster ride for your senses where you are not a hundred percent sure what you experience.
“Eatin’ Asian pussy – all I need was sweet and sour sauce” is the only lyric I remember from ferocious Trap set by Lotic accompanying the performance. Both Roderick George and Lotic are from Texas and seem to tell more than just one story of all kinds of aggression and oppression. The result of all this agony creates an intense dance experience and poses the question how traumas can be dealt with by dancing. The piece is especially worth watching for the unusual combination of different dance styles such as ballet, hip hop, breakdance and voguing with a trippy DJ set. A photographic preview and the dates after the jump.
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by Claudio | Theater
