Impressions from the Fashion Week: IT couture in trends

Berlin fashion is always a special way of being. It might not be as glamorous as in Paris or Milan or bold like in New York City, but it has its own branding and can be easily recognized by the knowledgeable eye. With the Fashion Week in the making the last days, I decided to pay attention to something more specific, beyond the usual catwalks presentations (not that I don't like it). My evening journey lead me to the Microsoft Eatery special presetation, the Bikini Berlin pop-up stores and ended up in my favourite shopping place in the West: KaDeWe.

At the Digital Eatery on Unter den Linden, a special experiment was in the making: an exhibition of fashion items inspired by the IT industry. As my last extensive fashion experience covered the green side of the fashion, I was curious to find out what it is about in this case: From the entrance, I was welcomed by necklaces and rings inspired by the neuronal system. Totally unexpected, I may confess.

The aim of the event was to award the best fashion projects inspired by tech. The approach is part of a larger city branding idea labelling Berlin as both an IT and fashion center of the world. In its advantage is playing the (still) affordability and good location as well as the various incentives given by the local authorities. 

As for the host of the evening, the Microsoft Office in Berlin, it shows another example of smart adaptation to the needs of the city. The Digital Eatery - that I visited two years ago, when was a fresh entry in the foodie landscape of the centrre of Berlin - tries to turn into a creative brain-storming venue - an art exhibition inspired by Excel tables will be open soon as well as series of seminaries dedicated to the transatlatic relations. 

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The projects nominated covered a lot of medical applications - such as the emergency apparel by Katharina Boedies, featuring a jacket with a button that can help you get the first aid, activity tracker for kids (Dongji), special cloth item aimed to help the patients with dementia (Spur by Julia Danckwerth that received one of the first prizes). The fashionable distance control jacket (in image) by Gabriel Platt is another ingenious combination of practical ideas and fashion: the jacket helps the woman wearing it to prevent a possible attack, by issuing a high voltage wave. 

Fashion-wise, I did find fascinating all the projects combining technology and elegance, such as the warm scarf by ElektroCouture (what you need in Berlin during the long cold winters) or my favourite, the various IT displays from the collection of Veronika Aumann. The other winner of the first prize, Mi.Mu team for gloves for music is another SciFi dream come true: motor bike style half-finger gloves that can control the from short distance various instruments and sounds. More high-tech than fashion, but still incredible in terms of achievement.

The jury deliberation time was filled in with a special music and visual art moment offered by Parasite Single.

After the ceremony was over, I finally had the time and space to have another look over the projects. There are so many smart ideas in the air, but I am still a big fan of classy examples. But if you can add some smart colourful circuits to your elegant night gown, why not?

The next day, I continued the search for new samples of fashion at Bikini Berlin, a shopping destination that I visit quite often. Special preparations were made for the Fashion week too, such as a big wooden skeleton where people can share on post it notes various impressions about fashion.

Most of the shops here are pop-up stores and thus I have always new reasons to pay a visit. This bag made of photo films literally took my breath away. Call it creative feelings.

 What about this beautiful dress, combining Oriental silks with canvas inspiration?

 Or this beautiful pastel paintings of a jacket?

 The pop-up stores abound in samples of creativity, from shape-changing jewellery to various head coverings and lots of dresses.

 If I would have been on a shopping mission, would have had a lot of pain to make the right choice.

There are not only the products displayed who are interesting, but also the entire design setting which is attractive.

The next stop: the KaDeWe, where the lobby is covered in beautiful flowers and stylish dresses. Most of the designers belong to the Made in Berlin brand.

 Out of all the fashion samples I saw in the last days, here is where there are the most wearable options. 

As for now, I am just a visitor and a passionate photographer, trying to catch the grace and elegance for a blog post. The creative brain storm of the last days gave me a lot of inspiration though that I hope to better use one day. 

Will Bikini Berlin revolutionize shopping?

One year ago, I was having a coffee at one of the posh hotels around Ku'damm and noticed the bad looking ambiance of a workshop, with the dust and garbage associated. Not exactly the kind of view you love to enjoy for your breakfast at a very expensive hotel. As I asked what is going on, I was told that a shopping area will be built soon, without too many information about what kind of shops and the audience expected.

But now, the construction is finally ready and in one of the first days after the opening, I joined the big masses of curious tourists and retired persons, but also some local youngsters. exploring the new life within the concrete walls of Bikini.  

The complex is situated in a very tourist area, in the immediate neighbourhood of the Zoo - whose jumping monkey can be admired from various vantage points inside the shop or from the garden terrace - and of the holy monster of shopping in West Berlin - KaDeWe. With many of the shops still closed at the time, the visitors preferred to simply take a seat near the window and watch the animals when they were not wandering around curious to see what is going on.

Berliners and Germans in general it seems, are very much not sympathetic to the idea of shopping malls. Bikini is different: it is a concept mall, which reunites various boutiques - hosted in simple concrete ugly boxes - offering limited editions of clothes or shoes or design furniture. 

Besides the shopping as such, that covers various styles - my biggest happy news is that I can find Nara Camicie from where I haven't shop for years - there are also ice parlours, hair stylists, a Kusmir Tea, a Cyber Port shop and an Audi showroom. And there is a Kaiser supermarket too.

As for the style and design, I haven't been impressed at all by this proletarian looking version of the KaDeWe. Sorry for thinking over and over again about this shop, but for me, this is as much the standard of high-class shopping in Berlin as it is Harrods for the Brits. Regardless how poor or sophisticated you would like to be, the standard will always remind how far - or close - you are from the perfect shopping success.  

Besides the little Army container-like boxes, Bikini also has big spaces used as exhibition spaces. One of them will display till June a photography exhibition Artists for Revival. Among the exhibitors are Marc Brandenburg and Sarah Morris, the idea being to outline hidden realities of the overall normal life snapshots. Another space, not yet assigned a clear destination, was used to display short movies about the building process of the shopping mall and the history of the area where it is situated.

I went to the next floor having a perspective look over the space. It seems that I am in a kind of factory of modern times. 

One of the ideas that I love the most was the pop-up stores, where various designers are presenting their limited editions. This concept makes a difference with the usual big malls, where you will always find what is supposed to find: regular collections and common products, sometimes at high prices, all of them unique creations. As there are many Berliners with enough money and sophisticated enough to prefer being dressed in their personal style, I bet there will be enough customers for such collections. 

Among many design and small bookstores, I found a little corner with travel books and the latest editions of my favourite ever publication: Monocle. Most probably I will come back soon to explore more books and for travel inspiration.

When you have enough of indoors, the roof terrace is the solution to take some fresh air. Unless it rains, as it happened when I went there. For the sunnier days, there are colourful tables and chairs and another view of the monkeys from the Zoo. One of the things that I always dislike about many usual malls I visited in Europe and in the Middle East was the idea practised by many teenagers and 20s of spending full days around hanging and networking or even dating. Bikini has a slight potential to go in the same direction one day, but the difference will be that it can bring together people sharing the same fantastic and outstanding ideas. 

After all, everything it's a matter of perspective.