Impressions Berlin Fashion Week A/W 2014 #1

This year is the first time that I am attending Berlin Fashion Week for my own personal blog because I have already been there the last two times. The first time, January 2013, I volunteered for IMG and did some dressing and seating inside of the Mercedes-Benz-Tent behind the Brandenburger Tor. The second time was in the summer, July 2013, during my internship at LesMads.

Therefore I am pretty excited and glad, that I received some invitations to attend a few shows and fairs :) A few days before I was thinking about getting a haircut, but wanted something new and after strolling and actually stalking Chriselle Lim, I've definitely wanted them shorter. Remember my last haircut? :)

I've made a last-minute appointment at Theo's again and did it :) :) :) What do you think about my NEW HAIR? :) Yes, selfie from Instagram ;-) I'm not used to it yet, but I like it ♥ so different!

After this haircut, I've met some old friends from the very first fashion week Jan. 2013 and was really delighted to see them again, we've spent the day  together and you should definitely check out Fabienne's and Shari's Fashionblogs, too!

The three of us attended the shows of women's wear label Rebekka Ruétz and men's wear label Marc Stone. Stay tuned for a short review of Rebekka Ruétz :)

Right after Marc Stone's show, we had some dinner at Vapiano and then headed over to the Blogger's Bazaar Berlin. What's that? Well-known bloggers from Berlin went through their closets and sold many of their clothes to us :) It was a flea-market from bloggers like Mia from Heylilahey or Julia from Floralpunk and everyone could buy their clothes, a great idea to shop mindfully. So, did I shop?

Well, when I saw the beautiful necklaces and earrings Julia sold.. I just had to give in. I wasn't sure about how to deal with 2nd-hand clothes and presents from my dear ones yet, so I've figured, I just go to that Blogger Bazaar with my friends and see how it will turn out. Strolling through the clothes, I didn't see anything which I really really liked, but wasn't in a shopping mood either because I was carrying so much on my shoulders. I was really indecisive about the jewelry and had a bit of a bad conscious, but in the end, I gave in. Why? Because they are so unique, I've never seen them before anywhere else and I really like the edge. What do you think? :)

 

My boyfriend liked them, too, but I still wasn't sure.. Is this a cheat now?? Hmm.. he gave me the money and considered it as a present. That's okay, I guess? ;-) Check out Floralpunk's website and see what else they have, cannot wait to wear them ♥ oh and stay tuned for more Impressions of this Berlin Fashion Week!

xoxo,

Minh

Best of Berlin: Fashion

In brief: I've had my internship at Les Mads Berlin, had an interview with Susie Bubble, went to the Opening Show of Hien Le at Berlin Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2014, bought my very first designer handbag by Zac Posen, had an unbelievable party night at the fashion week party by Les Mads, met up with Thuy Duong Nguyen, designer of ThuThu at her Sample Sale and bought this unique short, went to the Opening of the first Topshop store in Germany and had a few outfit posts with friends and me.

What wonderful three months full of fashion, food and more to come :)

Meet & Greet with Susie Bubble :)

Through work I had the opportunity to meet the lovely Susie Bubble from Style Bubble during the Berlin Fashion Week. We were at the Bread & Butter fair and were talking about her life and how she actually started blogging. I've had a really nice interview with her. She was super nice and really down-to-earth, funny and inspiring as well.

Read the German version on LesMads and enjoy :)

How come, that you've started blogging? In your blog you're saying that you wanted to rebel against your parents, why was that or when was the point that you've decided to start blogging? Was there a special incident?

  

Well, with fashion I wanted to rebel. Getting into fashion was quite rebellious for me because I’ve attended an academic girl’s school and my parents were quite conservative; I lived in suburbia in London. Fashion was my way of rebelling against that and then later on when I was working in advertising, like right after I graduated, I didn’t want to be  a person who has a boring 9-to-5 job and being content with it. So I started the blog as a hobby, as something on the side, as something to really indulge in and to reenjoy. When I first started blogging, it was like: I’d do it before lunch, before work, during lunch hours, after work and it was like an obsession. I studied history at UCL, that was like my academic state.

I was reading blogs at that time but there weren’t as many like Fashionologie and blogs that don’t exist anymore. I was also on the Fashionspot a lot, the forum. So yeaht that’s kind of how it started really, it was just supposed to be a hobby. I didn’t really care about who was reading it, I just wanted to do it for myself. I always been into extracurricular things, I’ve also did things just to get a different experience.

How did you end up with Dazed and Confused and then later Elle?

LesMads Fashion Week party at Cookies

I don't have to say more right?! =D Oh my, it was so much fun! Although I was super tired and super exhausted of the week I just had to attend the LesMads party. Before we came, we took a nap and were like: Okay, we're super tired, let's just go there for an hour and then leave. The 90's motto wasn't our thing anways.

Berlin Fashion Week S/S '14 Résumé

Franziska Michael S/S '14 © Mercedes-Benz Fashion

During the fashion week I went to some shows and events, this is supposed to be a small résumé of were I've been and which shows I liked. Of course there were more and other events, but these are my top ones and favorite collections. Enjoy strolling through the pictures and videos. 

*On Tuesday night I've been to the UdK-Fashion Design graduation. They've showed their collections and I was pretty amazed of what the graduates were able to create. The designs were full of energy and curiosity. I liked the ideas and their fearlessness. People should always stay creative and follow their dreams! The last presentation of graduate Nan Li 'Call of Beauty' was really eye-catching since the designer combined the bad-ass attitude with the conservative role of a woman. A lot of white fabrics as well!edit: For German readers, read my article at OK COOL-LesMads.

 

*On Wednesday I've attended the Franziska Michael stage presentation of her new collection in the Mercedes Benz tent. It was really sports and tennis-inspired which I find fascinating because she does have the courage to do something different. She works with contrasts and I think the composition of sports and glamour great! 

 

Designer for Tomorrow Award 2013

*That day the Designer for Tomorrow Award 2013 hosted by Stella McCartney was given to the winner. Just two days before, on Monday I had the opportunity to be at the fitting session with the models. All five finalists had great drafts. But Ioana Ciolacu Miron, the Rumanian designer won the talent award with her collection 'Paradox'. Once again contrasts are in great demand, her clothes are tender, yet structured and strong, yet feminine.

Schumacher S/S '14 © Mercedes-Benz Fashion

*On Thursday I couldn't attend the runway show of Dorothee Schumacher, but fans could sign up for the live stream. You should watch it here. It's pretty funny because on the soundtrack there were quotes from e.g. Diana Vreeland. One of the quotes I really liked was something like A new dress doesn't get you anywhere, it's the life you're living in the dress. The pictures above are my favorite outfits. Really like the white long vest and the golden coat. Other than that she incorporated a lot of summer colours like rose, orange and apricot, but did a section of  royal blue as well. Her aim was to create strong feminine power. I really love the small details on the white collections with cut-outs, zips and mesh. 



                 

*In the afternoon Katja and I went to the offsite show of Perret Schaad. I was excited to see this collection since Tutia Schaad is also Vietnamese. So we went to the New National Gallery and were surprised when we had to stay outside. The runway was inside the building. The models walked in a square and we were watching the show from outside through glass walls. This idea was pretty funny, yet strange. There were museum visitors who were able to stroll inside and seeing what was actually happening. It was totally quite and there was no music. Still, the collection was nice and at the end the models walked outside for at least one run. Watch the end of the show above.

LALA Berlin S/S '14 © Mercedes-Benz Fashion

*LALA Berlin had her show offsite at an Opera building. Her designs were dominated by colours like red, powder, white and black. The redish outfits will remind you of flamingos and the patterns will transfer you to a beach full of palms. Sharp cut meets summer breeze or in the blogger world: Elin Kling meets That's Chic! ♥

 

*Oh my gosh! I've just found this out: VEGAN FASHION from Berlin at the fashion week! They had a runway show on Friday afternoon. UMASAN is a brand which only uses plant-based fabrics and recycled polyester. One of the designer-twins has worked for Yohji Yamamoto and therefore the minimalistic cuts are inspired by Japanese martial arts. There are just black and white outfits which are really beautiful, but when I've found out that they are also vegan, I was totally hooked. Check out the whole show! Green fashion is going high fashion! Eco without prejudices because they made it into the MBFW :)

THU THU Sample Sale

The Berlin fashion week just went by super fast and I have to say I am suuuper exhausted! Do you know how it is to be tired all week because you're lacking of sleep? It's like you haven't slept for one whole night and then you're just permanently tired all day and night. You won't be able to catch up on some sleep later on.

Anyways, this saturday, I still wanted to spend some time outside with my dear girls. We wanted to check out THU THU's sample sale since she is a London-based designer and she was only here for the fashion week. There's a funny background story to it: On thursday night we went out to the LesMads party at Cookies which was a lot of fun! When we were sitting in that cinema room, the designer of ThuThu and her friends came in, joined us and we've had a really nice chat.

MALAIKARAISS Spring/Summer '14

Cathleen Wolf for MALAIKARAISS

I've actually intended to write just about the shows/events I've been to this week, but when I saw these big earrings from Sabrina Dehoff for Malaika Raiss' Spring/Summer 2014 runway show, I had to watch it on youtube. Anyways I'll show you my favorite outfits from her collection here.

Berlin Fashion Week S/S '14: Opening Show of Hien Le

Today was the first day of the Berlin Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2014 and through work I had the chance to be there for the opening show of Hien Le. So, I was really excited to sit close to the runway to take some nice shots! It was the second time that he received the honor to open the fashion week. I have to admit I have to be some kind of patriotic here, he is also Vietnamese and I encourage Asians a lot! Don't get me wrong, but I do love Asians doing fashion! I mean: Vera Wang, Alexander Wang, Jason Wu, Perret Schaad and Hien Le, just to name a few :-P 

Le is a Berlin based designer and his collections are dominated by his accurate workmanship and his minimalistic cuts. This season he found inspiration in nature by using a dragonfly-print for his signature pieces. Hien Le transformed the print and created an abstract appearance.