7 July 2025 |
Berlin Fashion Week (30 June – 3 July 2025) has officially stepped into the international spotlight – not as a copy of the Big Four, but as a fashion capital with a rhythm entirely its own. While other cities stick to familiar formats, Berlin makes its own rules. Themes like freedom, identity, inclusion and sustainability continue to shape many collections – but it’s the city’s spirit that sets it apart.
In Berlin, fashion doesn’t stay confined to the runway. Clubs, art galleries, underground bunkers and dusty industrial sites all double as show venues, pop-ups or spontaneous performance sites. And most of the time, you’re not even sure where the event ends and the afterparty begins. For one week, the whole city dresses – and behaves – like it’s part of the programme.
What Berlin really offers is space. Literal, creative, ideological. A space where designers aren’t fixed into categories, but invited to speak, shout, challenge and disrupt. This season carried that momentum forward: more international names, more cross-cultural collaboration, and more of that delicious unpredictability we come to Berlin for. Diversity isn’t just in the casting – it runs through the DNA of the week.
During Berlin Fashion Week, Reference Studios unveiled the fourth edition of Intervention – its ongoing initiative championing global talent and shaping the city’s cultural fabric. Taking over the historic Palais am Funkturm, Reference once again proved its instinct for capturing the now. This season, the platform expanded its scope with a bold runway lineup and a more pronounced international edge, spotlighting standout collections from Lueder, GmbH, Ottolinger and David Koma.
Returning for the third time to BFW, Lueder presented SL∀Y – a collection rooted in ancient myth and the symbolic act of slaying the dragon. Set around a striking silver dragon installation, the collection fused bold colour with metallic armour tones, and balanced feminine silhouettes with utilitarian details. Footwear made a bold statement this season, ranging from classic UGG boots to exaggerated curled-toe mules inspired by medieval unisex shoes – perfectly capturing the brand’s fearless, experimental spirit.
GmbH presented Imitation of Life at Palais am Funkturm, delivering a powerful show in three distinct acts. The presentation was deeply political, opening with a poignant minute of silence for the lives lost in Gaza, inviting the audience to reflect. The collection featured a striking mix of tailored boxing shorts, fluid satin layers over sharply cut shirts, and bold crop tops – one of them emblazoned with “Masallah”, an Arabic expression of appreciation and protection against the evil eye. Graphic hoodies and standout looks carried forward GmbH’s unmistakable balance of softness, strength and sharp tailoring.
Ottolinger took the runway in Berlin for the very first time with a long-awaited hometown debut. The resort collection, ‘Heidi’, channelled the energy of the cooler older sister: fierce yet vulnerable, rebellious yet grounding. It was about owning both scars and strengths – worn like armour and second skin. The collection featured their signature long laces, black latex-painted pieces, and deconstructed tailoring, with silhouettes that fused edge with intimacy. The cast brought together women from across the creative spectrum: pop icon Kim Petras opened the show, followed by art director and fashion designer Yaz XL, visual artist Anna Uddenberg, and Karen Lohmann of Berlin’s influential Boros Collection – alongside Ottolinger’s own Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient.
One of the most anticipated shows of the week was David Koma’s. Designing for both his own label and Blumarine, Koma used this runway to debut I Love David – a menswear collection that merges Y2K nostalgia, classical references and personal identity. The collection drew on three ‘Davids’: David Beckham, referenced through aged brown leather trenches and rhinestone-studded slogan tees; Michelangelo’s David, echoed in delicate lace aprons that played on the idea of the souvenir; and the designer himself, visible in tailored pieces with signature belted waistbands, seen across distressed denim jeans. With hibiscus brooches and playful crystal details, Koma offers a new take on what it means to be a man today.
Making both his Berlin and overall runway debut, Ioannes presented Better Grow Thorns Than Thicker Skin at the Orangery of Charlottenburg Palace – a collection built around the idea that vulnerability is a form of resilience. That tension came through in the designs: sculpted, skin-tight silhouettes contrasted with strong tailoring, while floor-length leather and sequin fringe in bold black brought drama to both dresses and bags. The show was just the perfect closing for a fashion week: a glass of prosecco at sunset at a Baroque castle.
Amid standout shows and unforgettable settings, Berlin Fashion Week spotlights collections designed for everyday life. Labels like SF1OG or Sia Arnika create ready-to-wear pieces – styles that effortlessly transition from the runway to real life, embraced not just by celebrities but also by tastemakers, DJs and your “it-girl” friends. This season, SF1OG’s SS26 collection sharpens their emotional edge with antique-inspired craftsmanship and late-2000s nostalgia, featuring playful leather Cupid’s arrows as headpieces, corsetry, distressed finishes, and rich textures from repurposed fabrics, wool, leather, silk, and sequins. Meanwhile, in the dark, atmospheric Jofa Lichthaus, Sia Arnika unveiled her Summer Time Sadness collection. Self-indulgent and bold, her models showcased tight cut-out tops, bandeau and bra tops, deconstructed shirts, and a new evolution of the brand’s signature clogs. These looks are poised to make waves – who will be next to wear them and create an unforgettable moment?
The increasing presence of international brands showcasing here marks a pivotal shift, signalling Berlin’s growing influence on the global fashion stage. As the fashion gossip social media accounts Boring Not Com pointed out, Berlin is slowly morphing into what London Fashion Week used to be: raw, unpredictable and exciting. In the German capital, the energy feels real. Authentic. Less choreographed, more lived-in. Berlin doesn’t just follow the zeitgeist – it gets there first, usually by bike, dressed in something genderless, up-cycled and unmistakably alive. If this season was any indication, the future promises even more innovation, boundary-breaking creativity, and bold new voices shaping the global fashion landscape. Berlin is not just a moment in time – it’s a movement. And we’re excited to be part of what comes next.
