hallo berlin

So January 16th saw the annual university trip and this year we were off to Berlin. Having never been to Germany before, or learnt a word of German in my life I was a bit apprehensive as to what I should expect. When we went to New York last year I knew exactly what I was letting myself in for, having it been a place I had wanted to go my entire life and having spent hours researching all the areas I wanted to go before the trip I was fully prepared. Let's just say, I wasn't quite as prepared for the trip to Berlin. Saying this I soon got used to the city and had an amazing week, experiencing events which I had never experienced before.

Lets start with what I packed. This was a difficult one as I had no idea what I was expected to wear to all these trade shows I was planning on going to. I had also been told that I shouldn't dress up for a night out in Berlin either as the Berliner's are a lot more casual than the English. This was a tricky one as dress and killer heels is just the protocol for a night out for me in England! The result was a lot of black clothing, black goes with everything, and packing far too much than I could actually wear in the 5days that we were there!

day one

Once arriving in Berlin, we thought we would be gentle on our very sleep deprived bodies and decided a bit of sightseeing and getting to know the area we were staying was the best option, and where was a better place to start than the Brandenburg Gates.

On our way to the Gates we passed both the Reichstag and the tent which was to hold Berlin Fashion Week. After being the typical tourist and taking as many photos as we could of every one of the group members outside the gates, we set off the find the Jewish memorial. Having completed all stages of my Duke of Edinburgh I took charge of the map reading and insisted we were walking the right direction. However, a good 40 minutes into the walk we realised we were going in the complete wrong direction and in fact the memorial had been just round the corner from where we had started at the gates.

Lesson learnt: NEVER give me a map to read!  

day two

Now knowing where the memorial was we set off to find the museum. The memorial was sure a spectacular sight. For as far as you could see there was different sizes of concrete blocks which you could walk in between. As you did the ground dipped and you soon found yourself with the giant blocks towering over you. As one of my group members joked, it would be a brilliant place to play hide and seek! 

 

Love this photo if I do say so myself! 

From the memorial, we practically ran to the TV Tower so that we wouldn't miss the start of the Alternative Tour. This is not your average tour which takes you to all the typical tourist places that you would find in Berlin, but instead takes you to the unknown, edgy and underground places that your average guide book would never know about. Our tour guide was awesome, some little American dude called Ben. After giving us a brief history on Berlin he took us to the first destination - the street of street art. 

All the street art on this street has been commissioned and is allowed to be there. However this isn't the case in all the areas of Berlin so to get around this issue many of the street artists design their work on posters in their studios and instead stick these up on the walls.

We also learnt some interesting facts on the way: 

Did you know - prostitution is legal in Berlin. The girls even pay tax on the money they make. There are some places in the city, where like you would for a parked car, the girl buys a ticket for a certain spot and that is her spot for the night.

Did you know - It is legal to drink anywhere in Berlin. You can even buy beer from the little newspaper stands that you have in the underground or on the side of the street.

Next we were taken to a squat called Tacheles. This was a building which over the years had been taken over by artists and now every single inch of the walls were taken up by graffitti and art. There were artists inside who were now selling the works of art. 

From today I got to realise how creative and inspiring Berlin is. The city is so much more relaxed than many others that I have been too, and maybe this is the reason behind the amount of art around, these people have been allowed to push their creative boundaries to the limits.


In the evening we got all dolled up and went to the Bread and Butter opening party. Felt like proper fashionistas didn't we! 

2many DJs

By the time we arrived 2many DJs were already playing. They were quality. The whole atmosphere was immense and I wasn't complaining about all the free drinks that were being given out. The added touches of the photo booth, as seen in the image above, really added to the evening.


day three


Today was Bread and Butter day. Having never been to a trade show before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I definitely didn't expect it to be at the extreme that it was, or as big - we only actually made it round half the trade show. The first room you come to is the denim, and it here where the top brands had maxed their budget to have the most impressive stand possible. 

This was a really interesting idea. The display was for the brand Love the World and they had a series of windows in which they had a 'room' in each with each room having a different function for the process of making a pair of jeans. The photo above shows the dying room, alongside these there was a sewing room, button room and more. 

Loved this idea of food in visual displays and I like how the colour of the food matches the colour of the shoe.

Yes, your seeing right, there was an ice rink outside one of the stands. (Apparently last year there was swimming pool.) This stand was for Tommy Hilfiger. Even though it was only the models that got to ice skate it made for a definite talking point. 

My favourite stand at the show was the Puma stand. 

Puma had a whole room, not just a stand. Not only did it have these models in the wall, it also had a free bar, a photo booth and the free cheese sandwiches were a definite bonus!
In the evening we went to an amazing restaurant called White Stuff. A friend described it as 'a dirtier, darker TGI's' which is exactly what it was. We had the campest waiter ever and the food was gorgeous, definitely worth a visit if your ever in Berlin. 


day four


Today we went to Premium and we managed to start the day off in style. We asked the chauffeurs of Berlin Fashion Week to drive us to the trade show so we casually pulled up in a big blacked out Mercedes. We felt like proper celebrities!

 

Premium was another trade show but was no where near as full on as Bread and Butter. Everything was on such a smaller scale, but in some ways I preferred this, it was less intimidating. Unlike at Bread and Butter, at Premium there were lots of brands which I had never heard of and the stands were a lot smaller so the visual merchandising was not quite so big.

 

 

I loved how things were displayed 

These jeans are amazing. Pastel colours are not only big this season but will also continue into next. And it will all be about the jeans, in every colour and every pattern imaginable, we will all be wearing them.

In the evening we decided to try the Berlin night life. And when our teacher asked why we were all wearing black, we simply answered 'in Berlin you wear black'. We ended up in a club playing classic hip-hop, was so much fun.

day five

This was our final day in Berlin, and what better than to spend it at another trade show! The trade shows weren’t actually that bad, and today we went to Bright. This was a trade show dedicated specifically for the skate and street market. Before this , we went up the dome at the top Reichstag. This would of been a better if it had been a clear day and not all foggy, it would have also have been better if I wasn’t scared of heights; it might not look it but it is very high up there and my legs definitely went a bit wobbly. However at the top the view was still good and the architecture of the building was incredible.

 

Reichstag 

After Bright we flew across town (not literally), and with a brief run in with the transport police, we made it to the Sebastian Ellrich show which was part of Berlin Fashion Week. We met the assistant to the designer at Premium the previous day who very kindly invited us to the show. (See next blog post for a report on the show.)

We finished the day off with a trip to the old ballroom for dinner; it definitely felt like we were in Club Tropicana with all the decorations. Unfortunately there was no dancing involved, we left that to the oldies, but afterwards we managed to blag our way into the Vans official party. 

The party was amazing, we felt so cool, and ever the bands Turbowolf and others were good despite it not being my type of music at all. The free Jager cocktails made it even better!

The next day saw a group of very tired, and slightly hungover, fashion students make their way back to England after an incredible week of completely new and exciting experiences. I would definitely love to go back to Berlin at some point. But maybe in the summer when it isn't quite so cold!

Enjoy xx