Berlin Fashion Week (BFW) took place last week amid an unrelenting heatwave. But the sweltering heat did little to dampen spirits in a city known for its resilience. In both temperature and talent, it was one of BFW’s hottest seasons yet.
“I think we’re starting to see the effect of a positive cycle, which we projected a few seasons ago,” says Scott Lipinski, CEO of organiser Fashion Council Germany (FCG). “If we curate the right brands, it attracts the right press and buyers, which attracts new brands to want to present during Berlin Fashion Week.”
The international guest list continued to grow this season, with new faces including the likes of stylist and influencer Declan Chan, journalist and blogger Susanna Lau, and Italian designer Stefano Pilati.
“The international attendance is very strong,” says Palmwine Icecream founder Kusi Kubi, who is based between Accra, Ghana, and London. Spring/Summer 2026 marked the designer’s second time showing in Berlin. “I think Berlin is definitely on the map — and that’s very exciting for the future of BFW.”
Here, we break down three key takeaways from BFW SS26.
International ambitions
In addition to more international attendees, the schedule this season featured some exciting BFW debuts. In addition to GmbH, which showed for the third time in Berlin, London-based David Koma, Nigerian brand Orange Culture, Ugandan brand Buzigahill and Berlin-based Ottolinger joined the show schedule, while London-based designer Mowalola hosted a pop-up and afterparty.
Orange Culture injected some colour into BFW with a collection in Regenesis fabrics (made from recycled consumer waste), handwoven aso-oke, cotton and wool. “One of the things that I loved about showing here is how Berlin is really explorative and very accepting of different cultures and colours, and it’s such a creative city as well,” says founder and creative director Adebayo Oke-Lawal backstage. “I was excited to show somewhere where they’re used to blacks and whites, and to bring my own spin of colour and introduce our culture and stories.”
Ottolinger’s Cosima Gadient and Christa Bösch created a resort collection for BFW. “It was so much easier to show in Berlin than in Paris because we didn’t have to travel, we could sleep in our own beds and eat our own food,” says Bösch backstage. The duo has no plans to entirely replace Paris with Berlin, but says “never say never” to returning, even if it’s not every season.
Many of the most exciting brands on-schedule have been brought in by Berlin-based communications agency Reference Studios, which also has offices in Milan and Paris, under its showcase platform Intervention. “It starts with a level of trust, which we already have,” Reference Studios CEO Mumi Haiati says during the Mowalola pop-up. Koma is one of Reference’s clients, while Ottolinger and Mowalola are friends of Haiati’s. “We advise the fashion council and work really closely with them in a way that feels very organic. Because we also have offices in Milan and Paris, we can act like ears and eyes for them to understand who might have a stronger affinity or appreciation for Berlin.”
For brands like David Koma and Orange Culture, the €25,000 grant provided by FCG to show via its incubation platform, Berlin Contemporary, holds clear appeal. The money is provided as part of the BFW’s €4 million in annual funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Enterprises, whose priorities and budgets could change depending on which political party is elected.
While Lipinski says he sees interest in BFW across parties, he’s conscious of the need to diversify its income stream and has been speaking to potential sponsors. “The challenge is that we have to pick and choose the right partners that fit BFW,” says Lipinski. Before FCG took over, BFW used to be sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, but the perception at the time was that it was overly corporatised. “I’ve seen fashion weeks where these huge giants come in and overshadow everything, and that’s not going to happen in Berlin — it has to benefit what we’ve built with the Senate. We’ve taken our time, but there are good conversations happening right now.”
Ahead of his Berlin show, we speak to the designer about why he’s showing in Berlin and how he’s juggling designing for his own brand and Blumarine.
The other challenge is to create space for international brands to show on-schedule without sidelining local brands, particularly when making decisions about which brands win the grant. “This point is really important, because of course we want an international audience. If people like David Koma decide to showcase here, the attention goes to Berlin, and that pays off for the emerging talents here as well,” says Christiane Arp, chair of FCG and former Vogue Germany editor-in-chief. “But we have to make sure that [the local brands] have a space and are being seen and provided for, because that is our DNA and we should never forget that.”
Local brands say they’re witnessing the benefit of BFW’s growing international appeal. “It’s great because when we first started showing here, there weren’t many brands doing something different, but now there are so many amazing brands here,” BFW favourite SF1OG’s co-founder Jacob Langemeyer, who leads the business side, says at the Berlin Contemporary showroom. “Most of the brands now do sales in Paris, but some buyers are also travelling to Berlin, so it’s good to see things picking up.”
Towards the end of this year, FCG is planning a trip to Japan and South Korea, based on the positive feedback many Berlin designers have received from buyers in Tokyo and Seoul. Designers can apply to be part of a showroom. “It’s incredible that they invite us to travel,” eponymous founder and creative director Marie Lueder says backstage after her show. She plans to take part in the Seoul trip after joining a similar New York excursion last summer. “They support us with the trip financially and invite us to join meetings with people we would never have had access to. It’s great to have the network and the fashion council is very thorough and guides us through it all.”
A playground for a new fashion system
The industry often speaks of needing to reimagine the fashion system, but what does that look like?
“I feel like the system needs to reinvent itself. The traditional retail distribution channels are broken, so BFW could be used as a playground to test ideas and formats,” says Haiati. “Brands could come up with an unrealised project, or release something here that doesn’t have a place in the four fashion capitals.” He highlights opportunities for see-now, buy-now shows, pop-ups and events that invite support for direct-to-consumer (DTC) approaches, or invite customers to join in — despite it being the hottest day of the year, hundreds of fans queued for hours before the Mowalola pop-up opened.
There were a number of fresh formats this season that allowed designers to show up in different ways. The ‘Raum Berlin’ exhibition aimed to provide a space for designers to display their collections without staging a runway show, and featured nine designers including Vogue/FCG Fashion Fund winner Kasia Kucharska and Swiss designer Julian Zigerli. Arp says the idea for Raum Berlin came to her when realising that Kucharska, who just had a baby, would not be able to present a show this season. “When setting up a fashion week, we need to allow designers to find their own rhythm and not squeeze them into the rhythm the system provides,” Arp says. “It’s also open to the public, so it invites people who are not part of the fashion crowd [to join BFW].”
Arp also led the new Berlin Curated initiative — a highlight for many attendees — which featured designs from 14 of the top students from German fashion schools in the form of a runway show (each student presented three looks), a showroom and a networking event for students to connect with industry figures. “The only reason international press and buyers will come here is if we present something that is new to them, that you won’t find elsewhere, and we felt that what we have to offer is all these wonderful emerging talents,” says Arp. “A lot of questions that we have within the fashion system, young people present answers to, so we wanted to make a platform that scouts and scans future talents.”
Designers deliver a message
Many of the designers showing at BFW reflected on the difficult political and social environment, both abroad and at home in Germany, where there’s a growing far-right movement.
Kitschy Couture’s show was inspired by the experience of growing up as an immigrant. The soundtrack jumped between Bollywood, German and English pop songs, like a teenager skipping through her playlist. The show opened with a model wearing a tank top with the word “immigrant” stamped across in red rhinestones. “The collection is about growing up in a new country, or being born far away from Europe and the beauty in the journey of finding yourself, as well as the challenges and discrimination you face,” says founder and creative director Abarna Kugathasan at her showroom space. “It’s not just about celebrating our community, though, we wanted to make a political statement. We wanted to make a point of how angry we are about the current situation.”
GmbH’s show, which moved many attendees, opened with 58 seconds of silence in memory of the victims in Gaza (one second for every thousand people killed, according to conservative estimates). The soundtrack featured classic horror scores like Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Backstage, the designers reflected on creating their fourth collection amid the circumstances in Gaza. “There’s been so many times when we stopped in the process and want to continue because it’s really hard. You’re trying to go through all these intense emotions and channel it through your work, which is cathartic,” co-founder Benjamin Huseby says backstage.
The collection featured satin overshirts, cinched blazers, thigh-high boots and two showpieces with Euro notes attached to a shirt, symbolising a tradition for good fortune across many Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures. “In spite of how hard the circumstances are, we talk about the repression and what’s going on in Germany politically,” says Huseby. “At the same time, there are really strong bonds of community here in spite of that, which is why it’s very important for us to show here in Berlin.”
Sia Arnika presented a lighter collection this season, inspired by the awkwardness of a teenager’s first summer fling. “I wanted to do something that’s quite optimistic but also a little melancholic, which feels fitting for the world we’re in,” Arnika says. It hits close to home for Arnika and her team: she tells me that one of her interns, who is Palestinian, has emphasised the need for a creative outlet amid the devastation. “You have to do something that you feel is worthwhile and do it with intention,” says Arnika. “Not just for the sake of doing it, but because you have a story to tell.”
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