Berlin Fashion Week also hosted the third edition of the Karstadt New Generation Award competition, honoring the best of the up-and-coming German designers.
For the spring-summer 2009 edition, the first of the nominees is design duo Boessert/Schorn, who presented a collection of layered, intricate, oversized women's clothing that mixes sportswear with handcrafting techniques.
The pet project of Sonia Boessert and Brigitte Schorn, Boessert/Schorn label stands for understated, nonchalance and contradiction. It is known for the use of traditional techniques like hand stitching, embroidery or even pattern making, and that of soft, natural fabrics (cotton or wool jersey), muted colors, crinkly materials, and something else: a subtle mix of contrasts; feminine and masculine details, hard and soft textures, classic and modern.
Then there's also Esther Perbandt who designs for the young, smart, almost boyish woman - just like herself. The designer is her own muse (think tees printed with the outline of her face or prints with diary excerpts) and she creates modern, edgy clothing - an innovative mix of fabrics, proportions, textures, colors, cuts, using screen-printing techniques and unusual materials (metal).
The designer also owns an accessories line named Esther Perbandt Bags & Pieces that includes bags, belts, wallets and jewelry with the same contemporary, quirky design.
And the winner is... Marcel Ostertag, a Central Saint Martins alumnus who won Best Menswear prize with his graduation collection and was the first menswear designer to show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His label stands for avant-garde design that presents a unique harmony between quality and comfort, between complex details and clear-cut tailoring.
Marcel Ostertag womenswear line, presented at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin is a combination of extreme, revolutionary and sophisticated details (armor jackets, frilled trousers, fringe leggings, and "scaly" dresses), a look "designed to impress not to understate".
photo credit: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin.
