Escada Sport opens Berlin Fashion Week

Escada Sport opens the Berlin Fashion Week with a wearable collection of checkers, soft tones and coats for the upcoming Autumn/Winter season. 


 BERLIN, GERMANY (JANUARY 18, 2012) REUTERS - Escada Sport, of German luxury fashion house Escada, on Wednesday (January 18) opened the Berlin Fashion Week with a series of wearable trouser and dress selections and plenty of coats thrown in against the cold.

The Munich-based brand showcased their Autumn/Winter 2012/2013 collection to a packed out tent at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, the official openers to a week that sees some 50 labels and designers descend on the German capital.

Escada Sport brands itself on "understated chic, metropolitan allure, and cool femininity."

Wednesday's show, by Escada Sport house designer Madelaine Schaefer was simple and gentle, with a few floor-length evening gowns added for a touch of glamour.

Berlin's Fashion Week that runs from January 18-21 has long fought to compete with the more glamorous Milan and Paris shows. It often eschews haute couture for more wearable designs in line with the fashion direction of the city.

IMG's head Peter Levy, who co-produces Fashion Week with Mercedes Benz, says the Berlin trademark is now that of 'emerging talent.'

"I would say, Berlin is really seen globally as an emerging market of talent. I mean, as you are probably aware there are more design schools in the city of Berlin than anywhere else," Levy told Reuters TV on the eve of Fashion Week's opening.

"When we started organising this event in 2007 it was about the potential. It wasn't about what was here and our goal at that point was, how can we take a market place that was really all about creativity and organise it in a relevant way so that talent could be really glimpsed by the market place," he added.

Levy, who with IMG has stayed with Berlin Fashion Week since 2007 says the shows offer the fashion industry a vital opportunity to catch fashion potential in its earliest stages.

"You have got more international people realising you have got - especially people that are in the fashion business, not, that are discovering fashion's future - realising you've gotta be here to see it at the beginning and make these people at least part of your consideration set to track and to follow," Levy said.

According to Levy some 400,000 visitors are attracted to Berlin because of the Fashion Week, generating, in Levy's words, "almost a quarter of a billion dollars."

"Hats off to the talent and the city and everything else - it's become sustainable and it's growing," Levy added about the annual event.