Berlin’s Fashion Week is now as hot and heavy as its dancefloors

After years as an afterthought on the global fashion calendar, Berlin Fashion Week has been going through a renaissance across the last couple of years. Where the city’s main sartorial export used to be a not-particularly-surprising mash-up of kinky fetishwear and tie-dyed stoner garb, the city is now proving itself a fertile breeding ground for a hot crop of brands championing community, self-discovery, and freedom. 

The mythology around the German capital is so powerful – famously described by its former mayor as ‘poor, but sexy’ in 2003, and known as much for its dancefloors as it is its museums and cultural hubs – that any paying homage to the local scene could risk falling into clichéd territory. Anyway, there’s way more to Berlin that falling out of Berghain bleary-eyed on Monday morning, with a swathe of brands giving us a kaleidoscopic view of the red hot creativity that bubbles under its surface.

The SS25 edition of Berlin Fashion Week kicked off with the second outing of Intervention, which involved a homecoming for GmbH, a glimpse into Shayne Oliver’s subconscious, and a spiritual cleansing courtesy of Marie Lueder. Reference Studio’s presentation platform has been a pivotal force in spotlighting the forward-thinking local scene and making the newly repackaged Berlin Fashion Week a relevant and worthwhile stop on the fashion calendar.

Elsewhere in the city, Milk of Lime, Richert Beil, and Sia Arnika offered up stellar runway presentations, while photographer Vincent Wechselberger injected a dose of queer sex and art with the book launch of his latest project, Ready.

Julia Ballardt and Nico Verhaegen graduated from the legendary Antwerp Fashion MA. Counting Martin Margiela and Ann Demeulemeester as their spiritual forefathers, it is no wonder that the duo’s work under the moniker ‘Milk of Lime’ is poetic and darkly romantic.

In a sweet little country home where the pair grow their own flowers and produce, the designers have created a safe haven to work on artistic projects at their own pace. Choosing to limit their runway presentations to once a year, the rest of their time is spent working on cultural projects – like an ongoing collaboration with contemporary dance choreographer Michiel Vandevelde.

A recurring theme for Milk of Lime is exposing the process behind their craftsmanship. This was best expressed in a grey linen sheath dress crafted out of the ‘start of bolt’ – the first couple of metres on a roll of fabric that are usually discarded. Elsewhere in the collection, tied collar details found on silk shirts and leather jackets are inspired by the Shibori dyeing technique used throughout the collection.

In the circular arena of the Tempodrom, a large tent-like structure in Berlin Mitte known for hosting a wide array of cultural events – ranging from darts tournaments to Holiday on Ice extravaganzas – Shayne Oliver debuted the second outing of his new project, Anonymous Club.

Three thousand of Berlin’s coolests kids sat on stadium bleachers as Oliver’s latest collection paraded around low-hung stage rigging. An eerie orchestral soundtrack punctuated by thumping techno beats courtesy of Billy John Bultheel and Total Freedom set a dissonant and foreboding mood. 

A pioneer of subversive streetwear, the designer proposed various iterations of the staple of all staples: the hooded sweatshirt. Across the collection, the humble hoodie was spliced and diced, turned upside down, sewn back together, layered, swathed around the head in a protective gesture. The designer has been pondering the dichotomy between one’s dreamed aspirations and lived reality, pushing our concept of wearability in the process.

Always one to inject a jarring dose of perversity into his work, accents of blue and red in the collection – lifted from Disney’s well-known opening vignette and Mickey Mouse’s iconic bottoms – were countered by the use of latex materials.

The collective behind SF 1 OG took us to the market for SS25. A democratic place where all walks of life intermingle and even the most well-connected fashion maven cannot cut the line for a sourdough starter.

The brand, founded on creative expression and craftsmanship, unites Berlin’s next generation of creative talent—from its collaborators to its models, courtesy of casting director Kyra Sophie, the mastermind behind the sexy faces in Troye Sivan’s “Rush” video.

The angsty crooning of rock band Golden Hours filled the concrete halls of historic power plant Umspannwerk Reinickendorf as models with black-rimmed eyes sullenly made their way down the runway dressed in a collection defined by easy silhouettes and unstudied layering.

Creative director Rosa Marga Dahl explained that she’s found a way to source, clean, and reuse wheat sacks dating back to the 1800s, turning them into caps, shorts, and vests in various shades of white. Small fish trinkets decorating utilitarian rope belts are reclaimed from vintage DDR fishing bait. With ease and resourcefulness Dahl offers up a cross section of her varied points of reference and inspiration.

Jale Richert and Michele Beil make clothes for your hot goth friend who spends the summer dressed in jarringly weather-inappropriate fits. This season’s narrative was all about German beach culture, the glass and concrete show venue transformed to a dystopian ‘Fischbrötchen Stand’ by set designer Stephanie Grau. With black beach umbrellas blown away by an invisible storm and the peaceful soundtrack of seagull cawing disrupted by a performer carrying a boombox blasting loud metal music, it was clear something was up.

Recognisable beach-tropes were given the Richert Beil treatment; models walked the runway in rubber Speedos with metal logo plates, flip flops had sharp spikes protruding from their straps, and t-shirts emblazoned with ‘Moin Moin’ – a cutesy way to greet each other in the more provincial parts of the country – came in heavy metal lettering accompanied by nightmarish seal illustrations. Black arm floaties adorned the models arms and were in some cases crafted into bulbous inflatable tops. 

The brand finds its roots in the city’s open-minded queer community. The casting was a parade of strong characters of all genders, sizes and ages, as we are used to from Richert Beil by now. A standout moment in the show was provided by DDR style-icon and drag performer Frank Schäfer who, decked out in a Speedo and a chequered silicone-bonded shirt, paused in front of Berghain legend Sven Marquardt’s seat to exchange a familial smirk.

The foundation for LUEDER’s eclectic mix of sportswear and medieval dress was laid in her youth. Instead of spending her time off from school travelling or playing sports, she attended a LARP summer camp, immersing herself in the lifestyle of those oppressed by the church, inbred royals, and terrible personal hygiene. “I know the Middle Ages were not exactly a great period in time, but I have such happy associations with it because of those great summers,” she laughs.

Her SS25 collection Rubedo is named after the fourth and final stage in the alchemical process of creating the Philosopher’s Stone, an allegory for achieving inner personal enlightenment. The show began with a vape trickster lit by a single spotlight in an otherwise completely darkened space. As the air filled with watermelon-scented fumes, guests slowly slipped into a trance-like state.

Drawn more to the performing arts than to club culture, she presented her signature mix of eccentric, casual-cool staples such as jersey tank tops, hoodies, and denim panelled to evoke the layered scales of historical armour. The textiles are airbrushed instead of dyed, saving water in the process.

LUEDER has recently joined the British Fashion Council’s NewGen incubator but will simultaneously maintain her slot at Berlin Fashion Week for the foreseeable future. “I love the slower speed of Berlin – it’s healing to me,” she revealed.

We’re on the second floor of a budget shopping mall in Wedding – one of the last ungentrified bastions of the city. It’s pitch dark as we walk in, except for the light coming from a couple of screens displaying security cam footage of a swarm of flies frantically buzzing around the industrial fridges placed smack-bang in the middle of the square space that previously housed a drugstore.

The collection continues Sia’s penchant for elegantly draped and shredded jersey but takes a decidedly bolder and more playful approach than previous seasons. Delicate dresses in mesh and tulle-like fabrics shared the runway with innovative, sportswear-inspired pieces. Models stomped around carrying huge polished inflatable bags, while an opposing theme of ‘deflation’ was present in unpadded shoulders and angular breast and knee pockets hanging limp off the body.

Exposed bums, voluminous outerwear, various deconstructed iterations of the polo shirt, and graphic prints declaring ‘’The people want more’’ speak to the Danish designer embracing the entirety of her personality and the full scope of her points of reference. Having grown up in rural Denmark, rough-housing it playing soccer and watching MTV, she used to feel embarrassed about her roots while navigating the polished fashion industry. ‘’I’ve been a people pleaser my whole life, but now I’m ready to show who I am.’’