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14International Herald Tribune

Thursday, February 23, 2006 Fash ion

Mark Simon for the International Herald Tribune

Berlins Premium show, left, and Bread & Butter, right. At top, Doreen Schulz, left, and Clara Kraetsch, designers for C.Neeon, which is located in a former kindergarten, center right.

Thats creativity with a capital B: Berlin plumbs its own dynamic depthsBy Andreas Tzortzis

BERLIN

If the former GDR kindergarten-cum-creative collective in EastBerlin typifies the unconventionalroots of this citys fashion scene,

the label that occupies the bottom floor

of the two-story building suggests itspotentia l.C.Neeon, the design duo of Doreen

Schulz and Clara Kraetsch, hasemerged as one of Europes top younglabels. Their asymmetrical, color-splashed collections won them theGrand Prix du Jury at an internationalfashion festival in Hyres, France, lastsummer. They have a showroom in Par-is, sell in 23 stores across the world andjust made their second appearance atLondons fashion week.

At least part of the credit, they say,belongs to the city in which they live.An absence of firm structures givesyou a certain freedom, said Schulz,taking a coffee break in the make-dokitchen C.Neeonshares with an archi-tecture studio and two painters.Theres another style and dynamic.

Berlins raw energy and commitmentto nonconformity has made it a wel-come creative harbor for countlessartists since the Wallfell in 1989, fromthe electro-rock singer Peaches to HediSlimane, Diors menswear designer.The atmosphere has given rise to smallhigh-end labels like C.Neeon and astreetwear scene lauded in the pages ofVogue and showrooms from Paris toHong Kong. Tens of thousands ofbuy-ers and visitors descended on Berlinstwo major trade fairs, Bread & Butterand Premium Exhibitions, in January,continuing an upward trend in atten-dance since the two fairs began in20 03.

Paris is sad. Milan is sad, saidDylan Ross, a London buyer visiting the

Premium trade fair this year. Fashionin those cities is not as hot as it used tobe. Ive seen more innovative stores inBerlin than anywhere else.

Well aware that such praise is all toofleetingin the fashionworld,the mainplayers in this citys nascent scenearenow hoping to harness that hype and

perhaps eventually catch up to fashioncapitals like Tokyo, London or NewYork.

The creativity needs to be commu-nicated and marketed effectively, saidAnita Bachelin, the co-founder ofPremium. Thats Berlins and Ger-manys job.

Unlike London, where graduates ofthe citys celebrated design schoolshave enjoyed the support of the BritishFashion Council since the 1980s, Berlinonly recently began taking advantageof the buzz around the citys fashionscene. The city government launched aCreative Industries Initiative thatbrings together Berlins music, fashion,media and art scenes. A fashionroundtable, including trade fair and in-dustry representatives and designers,tries to come up with solutions to thedesign scenes problems, such as start-up financing and marketing.

We had a problem communicatingthe potential of this, said Tanja Mhl-hans, the initiatives coordinator. Wehad to communicate i t in our ownhouse first.

In the two years, city officials likethe economics minister, Harald Wolf,and the nightlife-loving mayor, KlausWowereit, have begun attending thetwice-yearly trade shows. In January2005, the citys trade fair associationlaunched B in Berlin, a lesser-visitedtrade show that, together with Premi-um and the show Fifth Floor,was pro-moted as Berlin Fashion Week thisyea r.

The goal needs to be to catch up to

Tokyo and Paris, said Mhlhans. Butdont ask me when that will happen, be-cause I just dont know.

Besides lacking the purchasingpower and bigdesignernames of thosecities, the fashion scene here finds it-self in a dilemma typical of Berlin:competing visions of what the future

should look like.Bachelin, in her designer jeans,bootsand snakeskin purse, representsone of these visions. Since Bachelinstarted the Premiumtrade fair in 2003with Norbert Tillmann, the number ofexhibitors has risen tenfold, to morethan 600.

This year, the fair expandedfrom itslocation in an abandoned subway sta-tion at Berlins Potsdamer Platz to in-clude an empty train station ware-house. More than 17,000 visitors cameto the three-day event, featuring a mixof local couture and international la-bels like Marithe + Franois Girbaudand 7 for all Mankind.

The focus on designer labels ties inwith Bachelins conviction that Berlinwill one day take its place among theworlds fashion capitals. To lend herevent some glitz thistime, she broughtin the British pop group the Sugababesand hosted a smal l d inner that in-cluded, among others, Barbara Becker,the former wife ofthe tennis star BorisBecker. But New York Fashion Week itwas not, something Bachelin acknowl-e dged .

Its still coming, said Bachelin.Were talking about three-and-a-halfyears. New York had 10 years. Paris had100 years.

But Bachelins hopes for a fashionweek to rival other capitals are any-thing but unanimous. Karl-HeinzMller, a co-founder of Bread & Butter,says Berlin should evolve naturally, andavoid trying to be something it isnt.

Berlin was never a marketing-driv-

en city, said Mller. It didnt needmarketing to reach a goal. It was alwaysdriven by an idea, by the people.

Since he began his show in Berlinwith 230 exhibitors in 2003, it hasgrown exponentially. Streetwearbrands from Levis to Lacoste exhibit atBread & Butter, which welcomed

30,500 visitors Jan. 27-29.But Mllers brusque manner andunwillingness to join joint marketingefforts, like this years Fashion Weekidea, have made him a controversialfigure. Many see his opening of an ad-ditional Bread & Butter show in Bar-celona last year as a threat to thegrowth of the scene in Berlin. And theconfusing trade show schedules andpublic spats with Premium organizersis beginning towear on buyers andde-signers alike.

What theyre doing now is not help-ing the buyer, saidMa rkus Kosseleck,president of the label aemkei, which hemoved from New York to Berlin twoyears ago. Theres too many tradeshows, too many events, and the buyersare too confused.

The sentiment is shared by many inthe scene, as is Mllers conviction thatBerlin try not to alter itself too radical-ly. Designers like C.Neeon see Berlinsfuture in a continuation of the present.

After all, without the citys bound-less experimentation, creative mix and,of course, cheap rents , l abels l ikeC.Neeon would have a hard time find-ing their footing.

Were both pretty sure that wewould be doing something entirely dif-ferent if we lived somewhere else, saidKraetsch. Across the table,Schulz nod-ded. I think it would be unfortunate ifBerlin tried to form its identity by look-ing elsewhere, she added.

Andreas Tzortzis is a freelance jour-nalist based in Berlin.

Fash ion

Continued from Page 13

JUST CAVALLIPhotographs by Christopher Moore/Andrew Thomas

Gucci does David Bowie glam rock

was substantial take on a womanlywardrobe that made a good show.

Emporio Armani had also comedown to earth from the hauteposition-ing of the designers eponymouslabel.In flat shoes, with smiles onthei r facesand snug jackets over poufy skirts, themodelsshowed off in this secondline

Giorgio Armanis urge for feminine fri-volity without entirelybetraying hismodernist heritage. The polka dots, furhats and froufrou hemlines were graf-ted on to simple architecture thatproved, yet again, that the designer is aking of jackets. Things that might havebeenelaborateseemed cute,as Armaniplayed with a puffed shoulder or a curl-ing lapel. And you could always pairthe jackets with Armani jeans, ratherthan a fluffy skirt or ruffle-edgedshorts. This couture-lite approachdemonstrated how Armanihas shiftedfrom rigorous to playful even if therest of the fashion world seems to be re-versing those moves.

Etro has such a history with fabricthat it seemed natural that it shoulddelve even further back into a courtlyworld of gilded glories, gleaming bro-cades and rich velvets gleaming withjewels. Sounds like a costume party? Bysome magic, Veronica Etro wove to-gether ancient and modern in the wayher family creates their finely fleckedtweeds. The result was a pulled togeth-er collection where the coats of armson tooled leather bags were updatedhistory while silver ring necklaces un-der short,tailored jackets gave a mod-ern edge.

So many different elements were fol-ded in from graffiti patterns to Etrossignature paisley. The designer is fol-lowing a path of her own, playing agame of hard a nd soft that played out assolid on clothes as on the magisterialfa b ri c s.

The return of knitwear is such astrong story that Pringle got lucky withits first runway show from the incom-ing designer Claire Waight Keller. Thecabled cashmere sweater that swungwide over soft pants to open the show

was a harbinger of varied creative ideasas well as a roster of yarns and weights.Thedesigner eventook herbowin oneof the runway looks: a fine knitcashmere sweater, glimmering withLurex threads and with bugle sleeves.

Iwanted to make a statement withknitwear, said Waight Keller, whoformerly did knits at Gucci. Herconcept was day-to-nightknits gettingever lighteruntil there was a spun sug-ar concoction for a black cocktail top.Between hefty and fragile knits werethe clothes, which seemed less sure, es-pecially when loose pants turnedsoggy. But it was a nicely done debutand the knit focus is right for Pringle.

As its new CEO, Douglas Fang, put it:We are notgoing to give up Pringlesher itage.

Roberto Cavalli had a message:Freedom! Positivity! Happiness!Fantasy! Creativity! Love! You couldcall it wearing your big bold beatingfashion heart on your sleeve, for armcoverings were center front in thisover-the-top romp of a Just Cavallishow. Sleeves were kimono-shaped,fluttered like butterflies, ballooned in-to a giant imperial puffa jacket that fol-lowed a kitsch Chinese theme. Thesewere sleeves to get you literally in thesoup. But then why would you eatlunch when you had to squeeze into

drainpipe pants, jewel embroidered tothe max or made in brocade? Dressesmostly had leggings underneath theirtiny ra-ra skirts. And if a lot of this non-senselookednothing like a winter col-lection, there was fur on the shoes towarm up dancing feet.

In a dramatic show, with a hint of the1980s power woman, Miuccia Pradaembraced the modern urban jungle. A

video oftrees sprouting among classicbuildings and flowers opening up erot-ically made a compelling backgroundto models stomping out on platformshoes, wearing animal prints orpatches of fur that clung to theirclothes along with hefty visible bras.

Pradas show was exceptional in itsemotional buzz as the hip hop music ofFlash andthe Furious Five rapped outDont push me cos Imtoo close tothe edge .. . its like a jungle someti mes.

It resounded as a Munch-like primalscream of women in big varsity knitteddresses, carrying bags shaped like anarmful of books. On this collegiate sideof normal streetwear were simple par-kas although they might have furrybacks andpockets or be tied by theirsleeves around a jaggedly cut blackdress. But Prada soon shook up herwardrobe basics with the kind of ex-ternal bras over sweaters that VivienneWestwood showed in the post-Punkperiod. Then came a tribal drum roll ofanimal print coats, complete withfurry motorcycle helmets, as seen inJulys mens show.

What did it all mean? And was this thesame woman who was both covered-upas a student, sporty in a short, quiltedblouson and a Valkyriein a short blackdress? Those dresses had brief pleatedskirts and a touch of Azzedine Alaas1980s style, which is popping up every-where in the collections.

Its the idea of fashion taking a com-bative spirit and women being rebelli-ous, said Prada, who proved herselfwith this collection to be the biggestrebel of them all.

Suzy Menkes is the fashion editor ofthe International Herald Tribune.

Pollinis happy 60s moment

For Pollini, designed by Rifat Ozbek, it was a shiny happy fashion moment.As the models took to the runwaywith their hair pulled back in ponytails

adorned with sliver plastic and their eyescoveredin Jackie-O sunglasses(apreview of the upcoming Pollini line), there was no doubtto where the de-signer was takinghis inspiration.The swinging60s of shortshift dressesnolonger than their matching three-quarters coats were given visual punch witha brocade in a f lower motif (a favorite fabric this season) or jacquards in a psy -chedelic graphic print. Fur collars or a double row of sliver spheres at thewaist added another layerof texture to the mix all pairedwith matchingbags and boots. A nubby wool ensemble in sliver gray with embroideredflowers atthe hem was a quiet winner. Anda black mohair jacketwith pattenleather inserts lookedboth retro and modern. Whereas the thick stiff tigerprintfabricsomehow looked like it would feelmore at home draped in frontof a fireplace than across the backs of models.

Jessica Michault

POLLIN I

PR INGLE