It felt like we have been pining over the collections
from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin just yesterday. And here comes another year again. Many familiar faces and also new designers presenting their SS 2017 collections. But this time Fashion Week competes against the European soccer championship for media attention. We could hear cheering and seeing everyone’s enthusiasm by honking and showing the German Flag literally everywhere we went. Our attention, however, was directed solely towards the awesomeness in and around the Fashion Week’s tent.
Our team members arrived heavily jet-lagged on Monday night (Mary Ann from Las Vegas and Sanja from Tokyo) which heralded the start of day 1 at Fashion Week. On Tuesday morning, we arrived refreshed and well rested for the MBFW opening show, Avelon. The tent was oddly quiet and empty as the fashionistas were apparently still at home or in the hotel working on their makeup and outfit of the day. But by the time the runway show started, everyone realized that Fashion Week was upon us and Avelon fired the starting shot with the color RED!
Avelon is not just a label but a more of a statement in fashion. And this season was no different…with overflowing ruffles, rough edges and cuffs. Every piece had its own style of comfort, sleekness and clean elegance. The designer Erik Frenken used slimming, but oversized cuts and a modern look for women in this collection. The show was a smooth and laid-back start into a week full of strange and marvelous moments.
I am currently obsessing over the 90’s grunge revival, and in between the shows, we decided to get a 90’s hair and makeup makeover at the Maybelline booth. We got the perfect look for the rest of the day and headed happy with our new styles to the Thomas Hanisch runway show.
Thomas Hanisch “Morality isn’t only Black & White”
One year after he presented his inaugural collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin, his SS 17 collection was one of the most anticipated. During the interview, he revealed that he eagerly wanted to learn from the critique he received after he presented his graduation collection in 2015. “Some of the pieces looked like student’s work”, Thomas Hanisch said. This statement made Thomas determined to work harder towards his brand. His attempt to better himself with the new collection was indeed, successful.
He made a significant leap forward towards serious High Fashion. Even though he is struggling with insecurities from time to time – the night before the runway presentation, he had a nightmare about only two people coming to the show – thankfully that was just an incubus because there was not one empty seat and he is certainly on the rise to stardom.
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter if a piece of clothing is baby pink or simply black, it can have just as much edge, no matter what the hue. Great example for Thomas Hanisch’ SS 17 collection which was painfully awesome: red, black and white were the dominant colors. Blurred as well as geometric patterns shaped the collection. Latex and sheer were the main fabrics complementing each other. The models were doppelgängers of Cruella De Vil with their sharp faces, extremely tall stature and vanguard red makeup.
Although Thomas Hanisch mentioned that he at times destroys a design he doesn’t like (he made a wooden skirt and turned it into a lamp when after he realized that he didn’t like it), I am sure this won’t happen to any piece of the “Morality isn’t only Black & White” collection!
We concluded the day at the very crowded Thomas Hanisch after show party at Kitty Cheng and eventually fell asleep around 3 AM after a very long day at MBFW. And our energy level agreed!