After a series of innovative analog and digital on- and off-site events as part of Berlin Fashion Week, the Fashion Council Germany held its first FIRESIDECHAT in a larger group since the beginning of the pandemic. The exclusive event attracted industry representatives from all over Germany and abroad and ensured an interdisciplinary exchange between the European fashion, business and cultural sectors. With its FIRESIDECHATs, the Fashion Council Germany has been bringing the German fashion landscape together regularly since 2018 to build networks and encourage the exchange of ideas in an informal atmosphere.

The event took place in the renowned Borchardt restaurant in Berlin-Mitte. The intimate evening was ushered in by an animated speech by Christiane Arp, President of the Fashion Council Germany: “We are happy to see you all again today. We want to encourage us to talk about what's next for fashion. I hope that we can start a dialogue about this, or continue it, and create new alliances.”

In addition to the board and members of the Fashion Council Germany, the invited guests* included:

André Maeder (KaDeWe Group), Anita Tillmann (Premium Group), Bettina Böttinger (TV presenter), Bettina Zimmermann (actress), Dr. Christian Ehler (EU Parliament), Constantin Prozorov (artist), Diana Kinnert (politician), Esther Perbandt (Esther Perbandt), Iris Berben (actress), Fiona Bennett (Fiona Bennett), Frank Fischer (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs & Energy), Florian Langenscheidt (Langenscheidt), Friedrich Liechtenstein (musician), Godfrey Deeny (journalist), Janina Uhse (actress), Jasna Fritzi Bauer (actress), Jörg Ehrlich & Otto Drögsler (Odeeh), Karen Boros (Boros Collection), Kristian Schuller (photographer), Luka Sabbat (model), Michael Müller (Governing Mayor of Berlin), Michael Sontag (Michael Sontag), Nadine Warmuth (actress), Valentin von Arnim (Iris von Arnim) William Fan (William Fan), Zoe Helali (model) and many more.

In summary, the voices on the repositioning of Berlin Fashion Week - also thanks to the support of the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Enterprises - are consistently positive and give hope for a groundbreaking future in which fashion weeks are a stage for innovative, sustainable and educational formats - in which designers and brands can present their vision of the future. Scott Lipinski, Managing Director of the Fashion Council Germany, is firmly convinced of the success of the reorientation: "Berlin has shown itself at its best, creatively, innovatively and sustainably. For example, the numerous concepts submitted for the STUDIO2RETAIL initiative, which was launched together with the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Enterprises, are proof that Berlin has incredible potential to take on an incredibly important position." Mandie Bienek, Chairwoman of the Fashion Council Germany, was also extremely optimistic: "Berlin is back. And with it our FIRESIDECHAT. We are incredibly happy that the fashion industry can come together physically again. The exchange and networking - that is the idea behind our format. This time, for the first time, we have invited people from across industries. It was important to us to bring creative people from fashion, art, film and music together again and to give them space for reconnecting and confidence."