Berlin fashion week kick started with stunning spring/summer 16 collections by some of the most notable menswear label.

Sopopular ss16 collection by Daniel Blechman showed clean tailoring, deep khakis and armband detailing. Sharp tailoring was contrasted with knee rips, severe distressing and cutout details to keep the collection raw and urban. Jennifer Brachmann’s capsule lineup presented masculine staples reworked into a variety of hybrid forms. Pleats were used to provide extra width on the sides, backs or fronts of the roomier trousers and shorts or to create unexpected volume in the backs of jackets. While Lena Hoschek’s spring 2016 collection had wiggle dresses in colored lace and fit-and-flare styles in peasant-print and cotton toile was pretty but expected.

Pearly Wong showcased a collection that was particularly all about unusual silhouettes. There was a white, loose culotte with a second layer shorter fabric around the waist, reminiscent of a kind of apron and combination of Crop Top and Skirt in large-area striped pattern. Wong limited her palette to black and white. Ivanman combined bright colors in its men’s wear and its spring offering. Canary yellow, turquoise, lilac, bright red and bubblegum pink shirts were paired with black and gray cigarette pants. Unisex label Vektor by Kristina Puljan and Martin Eichler stayed true to their streetwear-driven aesthetic, mixing their collection’s diaphanous whites and pastels with open-hem denim pieces.

Alexandar  Tamele showcased casual urban streetwear collection that played with African patterns and fabrics. Loose-fitting, flowing shirts and trousers came in light earth tones mixed with fresh apricot and some white. German fashion house Marc Cain’s included silky sheer peasant tops delicately smocked at the wrists or incorporating zigzag lace insets down the front, paired with long white skirts in stiffened cotton or short, flared skirts that billowed like curtains.

Marcel Ostertag  ss’16 lineup was dominated by light colors like white and beige. Transparent and flowing fabrics were decorated with elaborate embroidery. Tunics, long dresses, short loose-fitting shorts and skirts were the garments most shown. Whitetail by Margit Peura showed elegant separates made from mostly organic linen, cotton and wild silk. A sleek jumpsuit offered elongated ease, while crisp pleated culottes were paired with open-back blouses.

Fall-Winter 2015/16:

For its Haute Couture show Karl Lagerfeld surprised the audience by unveiling his collection in a casino reinvented at the Grand Palais with about 20 international celebrities, all close friends of CHANEL, playing blackjack in Le Cercle Privé.

Haute Couture gowns worn by the celebrities, made especially for the event, are accessorised with re-editions in platinum and diamonds of the first unique “Bijoux de Diamants” collection created by Mademoiselle Chanel in 1932.

Between card games, roulette tables and slot machines, the models with their neo-tomboy plunging bob hairstyles, showcase a very structured and graphic silhouette. Dressed in suits or asymmetric evening dresses, they wear slingback booties with a geometric heel. Black, grey, navy, white, red, gold, mauve, pink and green punctuate the line.

Uniting the traditional expertise of Haute Couture with the latest technologies, Karl Lagerfeld creates a range of 3D suits. Using the “selective laser sintering” technique they come painted, embroidered with beads, lined with satin, embroideries, or braided in leather. The CHANEL jacket is completely reinvented and thrust into a whole new dimension. “The idea was to take the most iconic jacket from the 20th century and turn it into a 21st century version which was technically not possible at the time it was born”, laughs the designer.

The iconic tweed embellishes dresses and suits trimmed with the “new CHANEL braid”, sewn into the continuity of the fabric. This feminine silhouette of a pencil skirt cut just above the knee is teeming with a multitude of masculine details: scoop neck, wide shoulders with buttoned tabs and turned up cuffs draped like a rolled sleeve. Men’s coats are adopting new proportions.

For evening, the line is asymmetric, veering towards the back. It comes swathed in lace, faille, silk, raffia, tulle and organza, duchess satin, taffeta and chiffon, richly adorned with countless applications of feathers, sequinned and beaded embroideries. Silhouettes of superimposed dresses play a game of transparencies. Corkscrew nun pleats, cascades of ruffles in frayed silk tulle and 3D embroidery decorate full-skirted dresses. The bride too appropriates a masculine guise in her white satin tuxedo accompanied by a long embroidered tulle veil.

DAY 3:

Day 3 of Paris Haute Couture 2105 saw Bouchra Jarrar’s haute couture collection which featured pastel colors, luminescent silks, bra tops, languid, high-waisted tuxedo pants, mannish robes and filmy skirts. Some outstanding looks were python bomber jacket in midnight shade of navy and the icy blue trenchcoat tinted with red and yellow.  While Stephane Rolland’s collection showed sleeker silhouette with a long-limbed line and three-dimensional volumes. He opted for palette of muted tones of white, caramel, sand, and black, with a few touches of lines and golden metallic effects. There was a sculptural bustier made of gold silicone and a large gold shoulder silicone enveloping wave over a sleek white dress with black detailing on its skirt bottom.

On the other hand, Julien Fournié couture range was all about dark pallet like deep violet, forest green, subdued reds. There was organza covered with sequins,sharply tailored jackets and jumpsuits bisected by gauzy laces and tulle encrusted with crystallized silicon. Yiqing Yin’s lineup introduced textured fabrics textured that resembled reptile scales and outfits featuring scraps of discarded python skin. He showed green slipdress wore over a bodice made of opalescent python skin, body-hugging navy silk jumpsuit with pleats at the neckline and sides and bouffant white pants with a matching kimono jacket.

Shocking jewelled hues dominated Giorgio Armani Privé haute couture lineup. Some eye-catching looks were two pink jackets, one with a ruffled peplum and another in a sleeker cut, worn with black velvet trousers. A precession of bright and bold designs followed in vibrant blue, purple and green. There was an abundance of ruffles and feathers on jackets and dresses. For his couture collection Alexandre Vauthier turned up the coolness factor with high-neck minidresses, ponchos and bohemian V-neck dresses decorated with golden bullet shells. His creativity came through in a skimpy faux-crocodile number embellished with 380,000 sequins mimicking reptile’s skin.