Although women‘s voices are gaining strength, fashion is still mostly dominated by male designers and tastes. During Berlin Fashion Week, at least one designer, Marina Hoermanseder, managed to critically subvert the long established conventions by offering an authentic female fashion gaze and statement pieces that celebrated diversity, individuality and self-expression, without constraints.
The Marina Hoermanseder Autumn/Winter Collection 2024 thoroughly redefined gender and beauty stereotypes. With its signature buckles, hand-punched and edge-painted leather elements, the looks embody an extravagant celebration of life, exuding glamor, flair, and an abundance of sparkle. Each outfit appears bigger than life, commanding attention with its opulence. The designer’s approach to fashion transcends traditional boundaries, blurring the lines between masculine and feminine.
With refined silhouettes, intricate embellishments, and luxurious fabrics, the collection embraces gender fluidity and captivates the imagination, transporting the viewer into a world of fantasy and allure. Hoermanseder’s defile final look caused an extra sigh of admiration and ovation from the public due to its spirit of female empowerment, encouraging individuals to defy societal norms of beauty: the model closing the show wore a voluminous skin-colour dress inspired by the famous curvy Venus of Willendorf kept in the Natural History Museum of Vienna. The glossy forms of this extraordinary outfit accentuated the seductive power of female curves, serene and arousing at the same time, all solemnly presented by Vivien Blotzky, the plus-size model, winner of the latest Germany’s Next Top Model Casting Show of Heidi Klum.
Another highlight of Marina Hoermanseder’s collection is a lego dress made up of blue, red and white glossy lego plastic parts, adorned with toy lego roses. Some might ask if all of these fairy-tale outfits are practically any good to wear. They are, no doubt, fantastic to have on with the right attitude of glamor, fun and playfulness, because they celebrate life. And wouldn’t that be good enough a reason to wear any outfit? Marina Hoermanseder is a couture label. It specialises among others in cuir bouilli, a centuries-old craft technique in which two-dimensional leather is softened by water and arranged into new three-dimensional shapes. This technique, rooted in orthopaedics, was brought into the world of high fashion by the designer, who, in collaboration with local orthopaedic specialists, is keen to keep the craft alive.
While Hoermanseder’s current collection topic was the circus, probably referring to happy childhood recollections and a subtle critique of the media and celebrity circus that always accompanies her shows, the topic of another designer, Danny Reinke, whose work we particularly like and whose Fall/Winter 2024 collection stood out prominently in terms of workmanship and innovation, focussed on dreamworlds and phantasies. Respectively, the looks were endlessly romantic, light and incredibly authentic, making the models look like outlandish fairy-tale creatures. A bed, placed in the center of the runway (cooperation with the Schramm Home of Sleep), served as the setting for the show opening and the central prop for the defile. The first look of the collection saw the model emerging from the bed as if by magic, wearing a majestic white gown of cushions and bed linen. The follow up looks were no less striking. The whole collection is a beautiful experiment with colors: gowns, coats and suits in turquoise, reds, and orange hues with pink, creating an electrifying atmosphere. Patterns and fabric mixes give the looks captivating vibrancy. 3D-printed shapes imitate the fauna of our planet. A core element of the collection are handmade knotted pieces made of leftover local wool.
Berlin Fashion Week would be nothing, of course, without Marcel Ostertag’s new Fall/Winter 24 collection that turned it all into an eternal bloom with its exotic flower prints on pinks, blacks and other swaying fabrics and accessories. It’s ultra contemporary elegant outfits are flamboyant and exude positive vibes: ethereal gowns with unexpected twists, pieces adorned with sequins, bold cut-outs and extravagant laces work real magic.
Other designers that attracted our attention were Lisa Deurer, the designer behind the LD-13 label. Her new collection focuses on the color scheme of blacks, whites, and reds, with complex shapes like cuts, pointed shoulders and unique collars. The dramatic coats and jackets made of satin, transparent and graphic details in the form of shirts and dresses are very eye-catching. Among the highlights of the runway presentation were the sculptural shoulder cape made of fluffy mohair, the oversized scarf that offers different styling options though its multiple neck openings, as well as the final look: a knitted jacket in the shape of an oversized hand.
The Dennis Chuene AW24 streetwear looks are mostly in darker, sombre and more subdued tones. The designer met the true Berlin attitude of raw shabbiness and haphazard spirit: models walked around with smeared make-up and ravaged outfits. Edgy yet confident and subversive, Chuene’s new collection has a particular focus on sustainability. The designer works almost exclusively with recycled materials. All looks are created by hand. Figure-fitted outfits, long coats, tailored silhouettes and ragged pieces are often complemented by wide, pleated trousers. The choice of materials and applications shows impressive attention to detail and precision. Unfortunately, the whole impression was somewhat subdued by the soundtrack abounding in bad language that probably intended to convey the speaker’s/designer’s frustrations, struggles and disappointments, yet just missed the point and evidenced a common trend of fascination with poor manners.
A brilliant example to follow is the Berlin-based Haderlump label, that in all its collections has been concerned with circular transformation and sustainable repurposing. The new “Circularis” collection for AW 24 is created in collaboration with DHL, a German logistics company providing package delivery and express mail service. Haderlump is known for producing progressive, high-quality fashion from deadstock, i.e. supposedly worthless materials. Johann Ehrhardt, Haderlump creative director, chose to work for this collection with particularly challenging materials, such as old cow skins, which he turned into stylish biker jackets and coats. The Haderlump aesthetic was impressively showcased on the catwalk: sculptural silhouettes in dark colors with immaculately crafted details met the iconic red and yellow of the DHL logo. According to Johann Ehrhardt “working on the Circularis collection was also about combining the brand design with DHL’s identity in a credible and interesting way”. The Haderlump Runway show inspired by DHL signature colors and discarded workwear definitely gave the label an extra eco-conscious boost.
The Georgian young designer and fashion scene by no way falls behind the main European capitals.
Creativity knows no borders. We focus today on Andro Dadiani, a queer performance artist and designer of his own extravagant outfits, which range from scandalous cross-dressing to morbid self-effacement. Due to Georgian conventional societies and intolerance towards queers, Andro Dadiani prefers to live a double life of an artist and designer, whose creative process is both a blessing, an escape from daily drudgery, and a sacrifice. Elaborate masks, effacing his features and making him unrecognisable to most viewers, are his signature elements. For his performance looks he combines stiletto boots, opulent furs, heavy fabrics combined with transparent textiles for gowns, shirts, plisse skirts, as well as glitter and sparkle for extra glamour effect. Posing for his camera and video performances sometimes like a diva, sometimes like a monstrous outcast, he is stylish and sophisticated to the last detail. His outfits and performance costumes are all hand-made, mostly out of recycled materials, found objects and second hand revamped pieces.
Review by Lily Fürstenow
