Twice a year, Berlin becomes the fashion capital of the fashion industry with the Fashion Week. The white tent of Fashion Week awaits fashion designers, models, fashion journalists and fashion bloggers. The square behind the Brandenburg Gate becomes the top photo spot for fashion photographers and street style photographers in Berlin. Berlin is generally a colorful city, but at Fashion Week Berlin is always a touch more colorful. Everywhere you can see more or less photogenic people who have a special flair for fashion.
Everyone has his own opinion about Fashion Week Berlin and the presence of fashion bloggers. For all those who are planning a visit to Berlin for Fashion Week, I provide here some information and tips about Fashion Week.
Do you even have to come to Berlin for Fashion Week?
Germany is not really known as a fashion capital in Europe. Those who are seriously interested in fashion are drawn to Paris and Milan. For Germany, since 2007, Berlin has asserted itself as the most important fashion city against Düsseldorf and Munich. In Berlin you can feel a very special energy and upswing, not only in terms of fashion, so no wonder that designers and unusual outfits feel so comfortable here.
For fashion journalists and fashion magazines it has been for years almost mandatory to go to Fashion Week. The really big designers, however, can only be found at the fashion shows abroad. Nevertheless, one has time here to get to know many German designers more closely and to deepen existing contacts. For designers and up-and-coming designers, the Fashion Week in Berlin is a good opportunity to draw attention to themselves. Not without reason, for example, the Designer for Tomorrow Award also takes place here.
For fashion bloggers, Fashion Week has become a great reunion. Since there are fashion bloggers and fashion bloggers, they also feel called to Fashion Week. When you could read on the first blogs that the then bloggers were allowed to Fashion Week, you were almost speechless and thought “they have made it”.
Today, as a blogger, you are one of many and have to ask yourself how relevant you actually are to the fashion scene. I know bloggers who keep getting Fashion Week invitations and have already stopped going to Berlin altogether, because the benefit for them has become rather small. Tickets for the catwalk are passed on or reports are written, with other people’s pictures….
#MBFWB in social media
If you want to get an impression of the Berlin Fashion Week from afar, you will find many photos in the various social media channels due to the editors, journalists, designers and fashion bloggers present. Whether a look behind the scenes thanks to Instagram or Facebook, whether a Snapchat of the favorite blogger or a live stream of the entire show on the Internet.
Even if you are not directly live on site, you can still enter the world of fashion. This is not only true for Berlin Fashion Week, but also for worldwide Fashion Weeks from Milan and Paris to New York Fashion Week.
Accreditation at the Fashion Week in Berlin
For fashion magazines and fashion journalists, a new accreditation for Fashion Week is easier than for bloggers. For fashion bloggers, the organizers want to select more carefully and only allow important fashion bloggers for Fashion Week. However, since the places at the fashion shows are often allocated by the respective PR agencies, organizers and designers, you are as a fashion blogger even without official MBFWB accreditation often in the main tent.
You therefore need a good contact with the important PR agencies of the Fashion Week designers. However, this should not be a call to arbitrarily write to all possible PR agencies as a blogger. You should consider beforehand which brands you are really interested in. Even if it does not fit in the first year then maybe, this does not mean that you may not ask again when your blog has grown further.
Whether a blogger is important for the external presentation of Fashion Week Berlin and for the respective designers is always in the eye of the beholder. Qualified fashion analysis can not be expected from most bloggers, because they are often more concerned with their own external presentation. Which blogger was at which show and who feels more important than the other? Who has more invitations than the other blogger? Is it a competition?
For some bloggers, apparently it is. Very few bloggers write blogposts about the particular shows they attended. Whether these bloggers should then really sit in the front row and important fashion editors have to fight for their place? What use is it to agencies and designers if a picture of the show is mixed with pictures from ten other fashion shows, plus five outfit pictures of the bloggers?
Surely there’s a better way to allocate places. Is reach still taken into account at all when awarding tickets – what use is a blogger with 500 or 1000 readers a month to a designer compared to a large magazine with a circulation of 200,000 issues?
Fashion shows and showrooms during Fashion Week in Berlin
If you are not invited to the big fashion show tent at the Brandenburg Gate, you still have many reasons to be in Berlin during Fashion Week time. Many designers also show their collections in showrooms. Here you often also meet the buyers of large fashion chains and fashion houses, if you are interested in the designer’s collection. This is somewhat reminiscent of Press Days, where you can visit various PR agencies.
In addition to the big catwalk, there are always smaller catwalks and fashion shows. In summary, the following fashion events always take place simultaneously during Fashion Week Berlin:
“Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week” at the Brandenburg Gate.
“Bread & Butter” trade fair at Tempelhof Airport
“Panorama Berlin” at the exhibition grounds
“Show & Order” trade fair at the Kraftwerk (300 exhibitors)
“SEEK” for Contemporary Fashion at the Spree River
“Greenshowroom & Ethical Fashion Show” with vegan fashion at Postbahnhof
“lavera Showfloor” at the Umspannwerk at Alexanderplatz
“The Berlin Fashion Salon” at the Kronprinzenpalais
“Potsdam Now” Fashion Shows in Potsdam
“Curvy is sexy” fair for fashion from dress size 38 at the Große Orangerie Schloss Charlottenburg
“Bright” fair for urban wear in the Arena, Am Flutgraben
“Premium” fair at the Postgüterbahnhof at Gleisdreieck
If you are interested in fashion or just want to be a part of Berlin Fashion Week, you will surely find a way to be there with this selection. Many of the events are B2B and not intended for the end consumer – therefore it is necessary to register and get accredited in time.
Parties during Fashion Week Berlin
For some only time and energy-consuming, for some the real reason to come to Berlin. While some sit in front of their laptops after a long day of fashion and work or try to relax in the bathtub, for other participants the day really begins.
The after show parties are almost as coveted at Fashion Week as the front row seats – being there is everything! What kind of contacts are made at these parties, everyone can judge for themselves. In any case, many fashion bloggers really look forward to the Fashion Week parties.
Almost legendary has become, in addition to the after show parties, the Dandy Diary Party, with which the Fashion Week is started for many. If you like it a bit wilder, this is the place to be – publicity in one way or another guaranteed (like last year, for example). Those planning to go to one of the many parties will certainly have even more outfits in their luggage than the normal Fashion Week visitor. Those who like to wear high heels, perhaps take one or the other foot care cream in addition.
How important are bloggers for Fashion Week?
After more than four years as a lifestyle blogger focusing on luxury travel and luxury fashion, I always view fashion bloggers with mixed feelings. I know how important bloggers have become for the external presentation of some companies. Bloggers are opinion leaders – the bigger the blogger, the more important the influencer is to the industry. The measurement here is followers, unique visitors and the niche of the blog. The appearance of the blog and the blogger is also an important point for many for the value of the blogger.
However, it is often the case that, interestingly enough, the “small” bloggers feel extremely important and it is precisely these who also desperately want to sit in the front row at the fashion show. Surely this is one of the reasons why this is no longer important at all for the “bigger” bloggers and why most bloggers leave quite a bad impression on fashion journalists.
The discussions of some bloggers before the actual show with staff and security of the show are sometimes really already a special highlight. How often does the phrase “…but I’m writing for my blog after all …. – it’s become super important and I’ve been blogging for six months already…” – nothing against new bloggers, “welcome”, but I always thought until now, it’s about the designer and the show – you can also see them well from the third row – or is it about your own ego – about “seeing and being seen”…?
A Kristina Bazan, a Chiara, a Bryanboy belong in the first row – but someone who blogs for six months and then possibly on ich-blogge-übermode-und-andere-tolle-dinge-123.blogspot.de should be happy to have received an invitation from the agency in the first place – no matter where you sit (or stand!).
Of course, it’s nice to be allowed to look behind the scenes as a blogger and get backstage insights. However, you also notice quite clearly that here everything is completely rehearsed, almost soberly runs and you are actually superfluous as a fashion blogger. You can capture the moment and get impressions that you would never have gotten otherwise, but you’re not really important here – it’s about the collection, about the designer, possibly the models – but not about the blogger and that’s also right. Be happy about the additional report, the opportunity and enjoy the insight.
If you get the opportunity and are invited as a blogger to photograph the celebrities on the red carpet in front of the sponsor wall at a fashion show, you should definitely do it once. The faces of the photographers, when they think after the photos taken then, who that was probably? Again an insight on the illusory world, and how the “game” works.
Also interesting, who cheats his way behind the sponsor wall and does not want to “play along”. In general, as a fashion blogger, you wonder if you belong on the red carpet at all, or rather belong with the photographers. Probably this depends on the self-staging and the goal of the blogger. Also again very worth seeing, if then the “6-month blogger” already mentioned above absolutely wants once in front of the wall and no one takes pictures… 🙂
What events can you go to as a fashion blogger during Fashion Week?
There are events where you are welcome as a fashion blogger. At the Fashion Blogger Cafe of styleranking most fashion bloggers meet each other. Whether you exchange ideas with others there, get to know possible cooperation partners or feel comfortable in the craft corner is up to each individual blogger. When you see how many fashion bloggers there are, you see how important it is to be “unique”.
Stylight also held its Fashion Blogger Conference during Fashion Week. Here, opinions and experiences of bloggers were discussed. The Blogger Bazaar Loft also opened its doors to many bloggers. Here, similar to the Fashion Blogger Cafe, various companies and bloggers present themselves. If you want to meet famous and international fashion bloggers, so you should be present at these events as a fashion blogger.
For me personally, it will be exciting again after Fashion Week, because this time I will offer my blogger workshop directly after Fashion Week for interested fashion bloggers. I have already helped some bloggers in the area of blogging and SEO and would like to offer it this time to a larger number of bloggers as well.
This time then a blogger workshop without hotel accommodation and hotel cooperation, but no less valuable for bloggers who want to blog more professionally. One day a pure blogger workshop, perhaps also with a small review of Fashionweek, on the second day then the possibility of individual blog analysis and blog advice on how to get more out of the blog and how to give your own blog another boost.
Styling for Fashion Week
Of course you want to be seen on the street at Fashion Week in the “best possible outfit” with “best possible styling”. Not only as a celebrity, blogger or journalist you want to be seen from your best side. Some photographer or important person is surely waiting around the next corner. Unfortunately, it usually rains during Fashion Week, so you have to think carefully about how you wear your hair, for example.
I like to go to a styling at my favorite hairdresser Shan Rahimkhan, who has recently opened Shan’s True Beauty on Ku-Damm – Blow Dry to go or discuss weeks in advance, which events are important and what I then do with my hair in each case. Early in the morning to the hairdresser is not my fulfillment 😉 but with the professionals of Shan, the hairstyle is guaranteed to hold in wind and weather at all the shows.
However, some PR agencies also offer the possibility to have the styling refreshed during the day or to have the fingernails painted. Whether the rain shower should be made invisible or the styling for the evening should be more intense, you can have curls turned or make-up refreshed – even eyelash extensions are possible. However, you usually have to make an appointment for these beauty stylings.
What to wear to Fashion Week?
It depends on what you have planned and what appointments are scheduled. Whether you’re visiting PR agencies or going to the catwalk? A mixture of practical and flashy is usually not wrong. Of course, you should stay true to your style and feel comfortable being photographed. If you want to stand out at all costs, you should choose your flashiest outfit or simply offer something special – from blue hair to colorful capes, everything is possible here. It may be daring once – but not cheap!
If you like to wear high heels, take a pair of flat shoes with you for the change of location to spare your feet a little in between. It is best to think about what you want to wear and when before your trip to Berlin, so that you don’t have to go shopping spontaneously because you don’t like what you have in your suitcase. The important thing is: stay true to yourself and authentic!
When planning, always think about how to get from the showroom to the tent, from the tent to the next designer and to the evening event. In which order can I insert showrooms and which unnecessary ways can I already save myself through good planning. If you are not allowed to take the MBFW shuttle, think about the cheapest connections.
How important are goodie bags during Fashion Week?
If you made it to a Fashion Week show, you might look enviously at the first 2 rows where goodie bags are. These rows are for the designer’s important invited guests. Depending on the event, the other guests will also receive a goodie bag when they leave. One thing is certain: whoever has received a goodie bag looks interesting and feels important – similar to a youth sports badge, which no one is interested in anymore 🙂
If you are “lucky” enough to receive one of the goodie bags and take a look inside, you will be briefly pleased with the contents and, in the best case, be able to use them. A fan can be very useful in the warm rooms of the Fashion Week. About a bottle of water or a small snack one is also very happy. Then follow the foot creams that seem useful to one.
Mostly one can do without the rest of the content. One thing is certain, whoever gets a goodie bag, then takes it with them and is happy. Whether this is at a fashion show, a showroom or an event, somewhere we are still like little children who are happy about gifts and attention.
Food & Drink – Catering during Fashion Week
Even if the topic of fashion and catwalks is always about weight and appearance and certainly not only some models fast before these important days, so you should be careful with all the stress not to eat too little. Especially in summer you should make sure to drink a lot. If you are looking for me, I stand at least once during Fashion Week in the queue to the ice sponsor. Calories are burned faster than they can be burned and sports are always done in between – in my case regularly on high heels…
Also, when it comes to the best seats during the fashion show, you actually stand and walk back and forth all day with a heavy handbag and camera. At some point, the moment comes when the body needs a break and energy. Either you find a little something at the Fashion Week or you look for a small cafe in between. In case you don’t have time in between, you should always have something edible with you.
In the handbag you should always have a water bottle and dextrose. Whether you want to go additionally on fruit, granola bars or the like – the main thing is to have something with you, which you can eat quickly in between, for example, in the cab or limousine.
Transportation during Fashion Week
Driving your own car from fashion show to showroom hardly makes sense in Berlin. Those who are allowed and accredited are welcome to use the official shuttle service of the MBFWB. Those who like it simpler can quickly take a cab or jump into a subway train. However, the subway from the Brandenburg Gate currently only goes in the direction of the main station. If you want to go in another direction, you have to walk at least to Friedrichstraße or Potsdamer Platz.
If you like it even more comfortable and want to have a perfect appearance, book yourself a limousine. The prices at MyDriver by Sixt are similar to the cab prices, but the ride is much more relaxed.
Hotels during Fashion Week Berlin
Many hotels are at fair price level during Fashion Week. Meanwhile, many therefore only come to Berlin in the morning to go back directly in the evening. Of course, then you stay only one day. Others take an apartment for a whole week – fashion bloggers often open a shared apartment for Fashion Week.
The most practical hotel in terms of location is the Adlon Hotel on Pariser Platz – at least when Fashion Week takes place at the Brandenburg Gate and not at the ice stadium. The Fashion Week tent moves to the ice stadium when, for example, the square in front of the Brandenburg Gate is occupied with public viewing for major soccer events.
Nearby you can find some hotels at Potsdamer Platz (MotelOne, NHHotel, Marriott,…) or at Friedrichstraße (Westin Grand, NH Hotel,…). The main station hotels (MotelOne, Steigenberger, Intercity,…) are also not far away and can be reached with a direct subway connection. If you want to go to events and showrooms more often, a hotel at Alexanderplatz (Radisson Blu, ParkInn,…) might be the best alternative. By bus you can also quickly get from Alex to the Brandenburg Gate.
CONCLUSION to the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Berlin
It is a very special illusory world, in which one dives here. Who wants to play here and can have his fun and enjoy the time in Berlin. Not all that glitters is gold – but even plastic can have its charm. See and be seen!
Like everywhere else, it’s a “give and take” for everyone during Fashion Week. Sometimes you get the feeling that some things are not distributed fairly here – but basically everyone who is at Fashion Week in Berlin has his right to be there. Some will lose their fun at the Fashion Week in the long run, because the charm of the special falls by the wayside – I’m thinking here of the many fashion bloggers. A fashion week is also exhausting and above all “business”. Others can’t afford to ignore Fashion Week and will attend the most important dates year after year.
For me personally as a fashion and lifestyle blogger, I still look at Fashion Week with mixed feelings. I look forward to individual shows, which I then also want to give full attention. Likewise, I look forward to isolated events and special evening events to which I am invited in each case and will otherwise stay out of the big crowd. For me and especially my readers, it is also only interesting if I report on shows, showrooms and designers that fit my style or are also interesting for my readers. If I would have to pretend or the show doesn’t appeal to my target audience, I should politely but gratefully decline even as a blogger.
If I would do this differently, I would be pretending and that should not be done as a blogger. Topic authenticity!
Everyone who comes to Fashion Week in Berlin, I wish you a lot of fun and success! Make the best of it and stay humble! Maybe we’ll see each other – at one or the other event! XOXO
