A LOOK BACK AT BERLIN FASHION WEEK SS26

words by THORE DAMWERTH

Berlin’s summer is heating up, and so is the city’s fashion scene, with a week of shows that turned runways into raw, personal explorations of identity and creation. From David Koma’s playful, self-reflective debut menswear runway to Richert Beil’s powerful statement on preserving craft in a fast-paced industry, this season held a mirror to the times. GmbH, for instance, opened their show with 58 seconds of silence in tribute to lives lost in Gaza, charging the moment with urgent humanity. These and more highlights proved that Berlin Fashion Week is not just rising – it’s reshaping what fashion can express, and how deeply it can resonate.

LAURA GERTE

Our first show of Berlin Fashion Week was Laura Gerte’s SS26 runway, Desire/Chaos, a raw meditation on the complexities of modern femininity with its pleasures, rage, and contradictions. Staged in an intimate space where live projections amplified every gesture, the show felt like both confession and confrontation. Gerte’s signature contrasts were on full display: stiff canvas corsetry wrapped in soft tulle, distressed jerseys clashing with fragile mesh, and silk florals that seemed to bloom and wilt across the body. Micro-shorts and reconstructed hoodies radiated defiant ease, while elegant mesh evening gowns explored the tension between exposure and concealment. Each piece pulsed with an honest, ambiguous sensuality – revealing yet shielding, inviting yet resisting. Desire/Chaos captured the lived reality of womanhood that is messy, magnificent, and deeply human.

RICHERT BEIL

Milieuschutz, Richert Beil’s SS26 collection, unfolded as a quiet manifesto on preservation of craft, heritage, and intention. Staged in their new Kreuzberg studio, a 135-year-old pharmacy steeped in memory, the show reflected a season of personal and professional renewal. Oversized rose tapestry blazers, hand-laced silk shirts, and intarsia knits spoke to romantic pasts, while latex lederhosen with suspender details boldly reframed traditional Tracht. Each piece balanced precision with poetry, underscoring the designers’ commitment to thoughtful creation over relentless churn. The closing latex coat, meticulously hand-cast with individual rose petals, symbolized their devotion to detail. “It’s about keeping the poetry alive while evolving structure,” the duo explained. Milieuschutz is a collection that defends time, protects craft, and nurtures continuity in an industry addicted to speed, proving fashion can still be a vessel for care, memory, and quiet rebellion.

SIA ARNIKA

Like a fever dream of adolescent longing, Sia Arnika’s SS26 collection, Summer Time Sadness, was staged around a gleaming stretch limo parked in a cavernous warehouse. Inspired by childhood summers and Karl Ove Knausgård’s raw tales of awkward self-discovery, Sia Arnika’s designs channeled the bittersweet thrill of growing up too fast, or refusing to grow up at all. Sheer floral tops, shrunken lingerie dresses, and laced-up seams where seams shouldn’t exist evoked that reckless teenage urge to dress for who you want to be, not who you are. It was a nostalgic ode to messy, formative moments when identity and desire collide. Transparent layers captured a vulnerability rarely seen on runways, proving that true It-girl energy lies in embracing your contradictions – being tender, bold, and unapologetically yourself, even when it doesn’t make sense.

LUEDER

In SLⱯY, Marie Lueder transformed the Palais am Funkturm, the location for all shows organized as part of Intervention by Reference Studios, into a hallucinatory battlefield where myth, movement, and fashion collided. Towering silver Venus flytraps by Esben Weile Kjaer loomed over models who writhed, stumbled, and soared in Lueder’s signature clash of ribbed knits, distressed jeans, and talismanic tailoring. The collection’s dragon motif became a searing metaphor for modern oppression – digital, structural, and psychic – while soft, sculpted dresses and strong shoulders suggested resilience and quiet strength. By staging SLⱯY as an immersive performance, Lueder invited us to question power and transformation: Who is the dragon, and who decides the hero’s form? “We all wanted to work together – what is runway, what is performance?” Lueder mused. The result was a raw, mesmerizing spectacle that asked not who wins, but what must be faced, and what must be shed, to truly evolve.

DAVID KOMA

For his menswear runway debut, David Koma unveiled his SS26 collection, I Love David, as a witty, soul-searching odyssey through masculinity. Also presented at Berlin’s Palais am Funkturm, the collection channels three Davids – Beckham, Michelangelo’s statue, and Koma himself – each reshaping male identity with irreverence and reverence. Low-slung distressed denim nodded to Y2K Beckham, while draped marble-like tees and lace aprons riffed on classical ideals. Hibiscus-sequined surf shorts and oversized brooches brought lush exuberance. “This was my most personal collection yet. I stepped into muse, designer, and wearer all at once,” Koma revealed backstage. Sequined pinstripes and crystal garters merged baroque glamour with street grit, positioning the Koma man as complex and unapologetically modern. I Love David is both a love letter and a provocation, boldly reframing what it means to be seen, adored, and understood.

HADERLUMP

Haderlump’s SS26 collection, EXLIBRIS, was a poetic confrontation with permanence, staged amid the heat of Berlin’s Haus der Visionäre. Inspired by antique bookplates, personal emblems of ownership, Johann Ehrhardt crafted garments as modern-day marks of selfhood: tailored bombers with capacious bias-cut sleeves, sweeping embroidered greatcoats, and monk-hooded blousons evoked mythic figures etched into paper and memory. Draping made its Haderlump debut, with transparent gowns and strictly waisted tops adding softness without sacrificing the label’s signature urban grit. Rendered in faded ink and parchment hues, pieces in deadstock linen and glazed leather combined traditional materials with a contemporary edge. Each look declared a quiet authorship: a commitment to intentional design in a world of disposable fashion. EXLIBRIS asked what mark we leave, and how we carry our stories – turning clothes into intimate, enduring ex libris of the self.

GMBH 

In the sunlit hall of Palais am Funkturm, GmbH’s SS26 show opened with 58 seconds of silence, a powerful gesture honoring Gaza’s dead and setting the tone for a collection steeped in grief, grace, and fierce tenderness. Benjamin Huseby and Serhat Işık wove memories of youth and diasporic rituals into sharp tailoring, Muay Thai-inspired shorts, and taffeta gowns that enveloped the body like soft armor. T-shirts adorned with euro banknotes evoked celebratory traditions while criticizing material excess. The duo’s mastery lies not only in sculpting precise, gender-fluid silhouettes but in calibrating emotion – balancing rage with compassion, beauty with sorrow. The show, soundtracked by Vertigo’s ominous score and Zeki Müren’s soulful ballads, reminded us that fashion can still hold space for complexity. GmbH’s vision resists apathy, presenting clothes as a vessel for memory, resistance, and a fragile, necessary hope.

SF1OG

In the chaos of romantic nostalgia, SF1OG staged their SS26 collection in a raw concrete shell near Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm, transformed into a suspended, overgrown forest. Rosa Marga Dahl and Jacob Langemeyer evoked the fevered emotions of teenage love with slim tailored jackets, striped sweaters, and corsetry-inspired tops. Repurposed antique linens printed with sack lettering added a touch of DIY romantic decay, while Cupid’s arrows as headbands hinted at love’s delirium. The atmosphere, intensified by Gavriel August’s pulsing soundscape, enveloped models who seemed both defiant and heartbreakingly fragile. A highlight: the debut of SF1OG’s High Top Leather Chuck with Converse, adding indie sleaze nostalgia to each look. With SS26, SF1OG distilled obsession, longing, and the exquisite discomfort of youth into a collection that is raw, tactile, and painfully beautiful.

OTTOLINGER 

For Resort 26, OTTOLINGER presented a love letter to big sisterhood: fierce, flawed, freeing. Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient marked a decade of rule-breaking with their first hometown runway, unveiling a collection that captured Berlin’s nocturnal grit and morning-after honesty. Kim Petras set the tone in micro knits and towering chopines, strutting like the ultimate cool older sister. Sliced-up denim, deconstructed artisanal knits, and anorak-inspired skirts embodied Ottolinger’s signature chaos-meets-craft. Weathered leather jackets moved with rugged elegance, while punky, studded-strap bags underlined the duo’s accessory prowess. Each piece told survival stories: how to fall, get back up, and look incredibly hot doing it. Teasing their upcoming Nike collab with swooshed micro sports bras, Ottolinger reminded us that independence can be messy, beauty can be battered, and softness never precludes strength.

IOANNES

Better Grow Thorns Than Thicker Skin, Ioannes’ FW25 collection, unfolded at the Orangerie of Charlottenburg Palace as a raw, romantic dare to embrace vulnerability as power. Johannes Boehl-Cronau’s vision favored delicate resilience over emotional defenses, fusing sheer, flowing fabrics with sculptural tailoring to create silhouettes that felt both ethereal and assertive. Patina-sprayed cottons, mesh, and sequined fringe skirts evoked a quiet tension between softness and sharpness, while figure-hugging halter tops and precisely cut dresses sensually celebrated the body. Oversized gold jewelry and special-edition Mykita aviators added bold punctuation to the cool, cosmopolitan Ioannes woman. The collection’s restrained palette of petal neutrals and moody olives, anchored by commanding black, highlighted a renewed focus on cut over print. With FW25, Boehl-Cronau presented an introspective yet confident ode to transformation, showing that true strength lies in embracing softness.