After having walked by the Brandenburger Tor a couple of years ago during Fashion Week, I was a little suspicious towards the successive imagery that came along with the event. The tent looked so different from what the prestigious pictures seemed to deliver in magazines, newspapers, and social media. To me, they were comparable to the fair tents in my hometown where annual gardening or food exhibition was held. Of course there the porters didn’t wear ties. Other than this, many of the people in attendance did not look entirely different from the trade show visitors I used to know.
Berlin certainly has its genuine high fashion moments through the likes of Perret Schaad and Augustin Teboul, and when it comes to quality traced by glamour Achtland comes to mind. We have many recurring opportunities to feel proud about what’s happening and surely don’t need to dread the international comparison on certain levels. Gaining more social attention through the internet and the growing media in general is certainly helpful. It is accepted that the urge to look stylish and interesting dominates events like these, but the steady push from PR agencies to bring in sideline celebrities and extroverted bloggers creates sensationalized imagery that, in many regards, does not live up to the reality of the event or serves as a harmful distraction from the main event–the collection presentations.
In my Berlin Fashion Week photo series, I took a step backward from the predominantly hyperglamourized view to find the beauty in the quotidian and to reflect upon the interdependency of the city and this event.
