Berlin Fashion Week has undergone some fundamental changes since its debut in 2007. What do you consider the most significant transformation of the Berlin Fashion Week format to date?

Fashion inherently implies change, and so the focus of Berlin Fashion Week has also evolved over time. Themes such as sustainability and innovation have increasingly moved to the forefront. With initiatives like "Berlin Contemporary," which we launched for the first time at Berlin Fashion Week in January on behalf of the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, we have sent an important signal for fashion design in and from Germany, thus underscoring the significance of Berlin Fashion. Another example is "STUDIO2RETAIL": This format invites end consumers to fashion events away from the catwalks, thereby providing a platform for local fashion and emerging designers. Similarly, the Berlin Salon, a fixture in the Berlin Fashion Week calendar for many years, has been open to the public for three seasons now. Sustainability, innovation, diversity, and visibility are the most important themes for me.

Since last season, Berlin Fashion Week has been undergoing a significant shift in focus: innovative formats, young designers, and sustainable concepts are now at the forefront. How do you assess this positive change for Berlin Fashion Week in an international comparison?

We shouldn't compare ourselves to other fashion cities. Berlin already possesses a unique cultural and historical narrative rooted in its past. It is our task as the Fashion Council Germany to carry this narrative out into the world and contribute to ensuring that "fashion designed in Germany" is recognized and appreciated both nationally and internationally. How can we positively transform the fashion ecosystem? This is a question we must ask ourselves in all our initiatives. It is therefore all the more our responsibility to further advance this positive transformation and to offer young designers in and from Berlin a platform that reflects the city's cultural diversity.

What are you most looking forward to at the upcoming Berlin Fashion Week?

Inspiring fashion, innovative formats and stimulating conversations.

ABOUT Christiane Arp

As editor-in-chief of VOGUE Germany from 2003 to 2020, Christiane Arp shaped the German fashion scene and gave it a completely new relevance in the international fashion world. Alongside her role as editor-in-chief, she worked as a stylist on numerous international fashion shoots. In 2019, Christiane Arp co-curated the Munich exhibition "Is this fashion or can it go?!", which celebrated 40 years of VOGUE. In 2011, she founded the VOGUE Salon at Berlin Fashion Week, a platform for emerging German designers. Christiane Arp continues to promote the German fashion and design landscape in a variety of ways. She is chairwoman and a founding member of the Fashion Council Germany and supports projects that are driving sustainable change in the fashion industry. Christiane Arp studied fashion design at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts and Design.

We thank Christiane Arp for the interview.