The Berlin Fashion Week Opening celebrated the extraordinary design achievements of the coming days and brought together over 250 guests from fashion, politics and the creative industry at the official fireside dinner in the Telegraph Office. This marked the start of the Berlin Fashion Week's SS24 edition and is continuing the change that has been initiated.

On Monday evening, July 10, 2023, Berlin Fashion Week was officially opened at a fireside dinner at the invitation of Franziska Giffey, Berlin Senator for Economics, Energy and Enterprises, and Christiane Arp, Chairwoman of the Fashion Council Germany. This season, the opening of Berlin Fashion Week took place in a new form as a sit-down dinner in the Hotel Telegraphenamt at Monbijoupark with more than 250 invited guests. The most important actors and decision-makers from the fashion landscape, politics and the cultural and creative industries came together to promote exchange within the industry and to recognize the designers who are presenting their new collections as part of Berlin Fashion Week.

During Berlin Fashion Week from July 10th to 13th, 2023, innovative presentation formats, shows and events will once again be shown that will bring Berlin, as a central location for fashion, into the focus of the international trade audience and provide a stage for design excellence. The labels present their new collections at various historical locations throughout Berlin, including the Kronprinzenpalais, where the Berlin Salon is taking place again, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Zeiss Planetarium. For the second time, a total of 14 German and 4 Ukrainian labels are organizing shows as part of “Berlin Contemporary”, including newcomers and well-known designers such as Milk of Lime, NAMILIA, RIANNA + NINA, Richert Beil, SF1OG, Sia Arnika and William Fan. In advance, the Fashion Council Germany had called for a competition on behalf of the Berlin Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Business and awarded prize money to the best event concepts excellent. Visitors can also look forward to the following formats and platforms: The Berliner Salon, Neo.Fashion, STUDIO2RETAIL, W.E4.FASHION DAY as well as PREMIUM and SEEK at the new location Station Berlin. The collection images of all shows and formats are published daily on the Berlin Fashion Week website.

The guests were welcomed by Christiane Arp, Chairwoman of the Fashion Council Germany, and the Berlin State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Michael Biel. In an inspiring atmosphere, he particularly praised the diversity of the designers and looked forward to Fashion Week with all its formats. Berlin is more creative than any other city in Germany and therefore offers the perfect venue for a varied and diverse fashion week with international relevance. This also confirms the self-proclaimed claim of Berlin Fashion Week: “The responsible movement of freedom, inclusion and creativity”.     

The momentum set in motion last season was continually noticeable in the “Root” restaurant in the Telegraph Office and continued throughout the entire evening. The Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection and the Federal Government's official contact for the cultural and creative industries, Michael Kellner, also emphasized this in his welcome. The presence of the German and Ukrainian designers, as well as that of the most important industry representatives and buyers, made it clear what Berlin Fashion Week is all about: honoring extraordinary design excellence as well as creative ideas and concepts and offering them a stage..

Among the numerous guests were André Maeder and Simone Heift (both KaDeWe Group), Anita Gigovskaya (Condé Nast GmbH), Anita Tillmann (PREMIUM Group), David Schneider (Zalando), Désiré Feuerle (The Feuerle Collection), Esther Perbandt, Grace Kenny (Selfridges), Ilse Cornelissens and Tim van Geloven (both Graanmarkt 13), Iris Spranger (Senator for Interior Affairs, Digitalization and Sport), Jale Richert and Michele Beil (both Richert Beil), Jörg Koch (032c), Julian Daynov, Kerstin Schneider (Harper's Bazaar), Manuela Kampp-Wirtz (Burda Style Group), Michael Kellner ( Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection), Michael Werner (TextilWirtschaft), Ravi Grewal (Stuarts London), Rianna Kounou and Nina Knaudt (Rianna + Nina), Sayan Basu (Goat.com), Stefano Giurano (Quaranta), Yasin Müjdeci (Voo Store), Thorsten Mindermann (H&M), Tim Kälberer (Wormland), Valentin von Arnim (Iris von Arnim) and William Fan.

An overview of all shows and events can be found on the Berlin Fashion Week website in the official calendar. Events for end consumers during Berlin Fashion Week can be viewed in the event calendar as part of STUDIO2RETAIL.