Berlin Curated — What the future looks like…
Berlin Fashion Week welcomed a new voice this season: Berlin Curated, a platform designed to support emerging fashion talent across Germany. Debuting with a runway show at FÜRST on July 2nd, the project marked not just a showcase, but the beginning of an annual, long-term commitment to cultivating next-gen designers.
Initiated by the Fashion Council Germany and chaired by Christiane Arp, the project was brought to life by stylist-curators Josepha Rodriguez and Sonja Hodzode, casting director Hien Le, and conceptual studio 0049x. It’s the beginning of an annual platform—mentored, styled, and staged with care.
Each of the 14 selected designers showed three looks. The diversity of aesthetics was striking, yet cohesive. Some leaned into construction and distortion, others into softness and emotional code. Together, the show presented a textured cross-section of Germany’s new fashion voices—introspective and process-driven.
Luis Buchwald impressed with sculptural forms in textural restraint, while Stefan Uhr refined minimal tailoring with sharp silhouettes and calculated tension. Shahnoz Bakhtiyorova introduced asymmetry and fluid layers with a confident, feminine edge.
Yannic Pretzlaff explored negative space and precision cut-outs. Meanwhile, Lotta Strobauch played with scale and motion, distorting familiar shapes into softened abstractions.
Other designers offered equally distinct perspectives: Rosalba Faroqhi combined romantic draping with structural complexity, Friedrich Fromm presented layered tailoring in off-beat proportions, Rika Behrens worked with reduction and tactility, Waiian Aung blurred elegance with functionality in modern silhouettes.
From deconstructed elegance to personal symbolism, Berlin Curated avoided trend-chasing in favor of thoughtful experimentation. A custom soundtrack by Klaus Stockhausen framed the work without overpowering it. The audience—educators, editors, state officials, and fellow designers—responded with sustained attention.
After the show, guests gathered for a reception where the inaugural issue of XIER Magazine was launched by Anke Schlöder and Joachim Baldauf. This further anchors the project within Berlin’s evolving creative infrastructure.
Berlin Curated continues with a showroom and photo installation at PLATTE e.V., designed by Sven Marquardt, and editorial collaborations with XIER and Hotline Magazine. With funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, it marks a meaningful shift. Berlin Curated is a proposal: for structure, for care, and for a slower, more deliberate fashion future.
@berlincurated.de
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