My favourite powder

I really like the current a/w 08 collection by German label Pulver. Based in Berlin, designers Elisabeth Schotte, Therese Pfeil and Franziska Piefke design tailored, simple and yet very elegant and feminine clothes.

I love that they named their current collection ‘Orlando’, after Virginia Woolf’s novel. Like the character Orlando, the collection also breaks away the definitions of feminine and masculine, resulting in elegant trouser suits and little tulip skirts worn with great towering turbans.

pictures:www.pulver-studio.de

Those mongrels

I just came across Berlin based fashion label Mongrels in Common. Their style of tailored, masculine clothes with feminine details such as intricately gathered fabric and bright pinks, really works for me. Plus they do capes. Enough said!

pictures: mongrelsincommon.com

Pony girl

I almost choked on my coffee when I came across Berlin label Pony Maedchen. If I could (read: if I was rich enough not to work or not having to care about looking like a semi-respectable person), I would wear fancy dress on a daily basis. I have high hopes that when I’m old and retired I will be able to gamble away my childrens’ inheritance in Vegas hooked up to a portable oxygen tank and dressed as Wonder Woman. A girl must have dreams!

Pony Maedchen has all the right ingredients: it’s girly, it’s retro, it’s fun, oh bollocks to respectability!

 

 

pictures: ponymaedchen.de

I demand to have some booze

My friend Michelle has threatened to dress like a Liverpudlian WAG unless I immediately post some Berlin street style. I shall oblige. To me, typical Berlin style is minimalist, classic, tailored with great accessories and a strong 80s influence.

 

 

 

pictures from Street Clash, Stil in Berlin and Facehunter

When in Rome…

Oh I haven’t got a clue what to do in Rome as I have unfortunately never been there.
But when in Berlin do head to Kreuzberg (take the S-Bahn to Ostkreuz or the U-Bahn to Schlesisches Tor) and visit:

1) Rosi’s, a great club with a massive outdoor area including ping pong tables, table football and sausage stand plus plenty of indoor rooms and dance floor. Loved it. 

pictures: Rosi’s website

2) Badeschiff Berlin, a floating swimming pool in the middle of the river Spree. Complete with hammocks and its own beach bar.

 
pictures: Badeschiff website

3) Freischwimmer, a great restaurant in an old boat rental place. Enjoyed a beer while looking out onto the canal. Also, don’t miss Klub der Visionaere, a trendy bar, just opposite.

pictures: Freischwimmer website

Ich bin ein Berliner

Oh what a week! I could have continued life like this forever. Leisurely breakfasts, bits of sightseeing, shopping and bar hopping in Hackescher Markt and Prenzlau. Evenings spent in Kreuzberg. An amazing Radiohead gig and a haunting trip to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Berlin is the only place in Germany that gives me the stinging feeling of homesickness, its topography will forever be the landscape of my dreams.

I love Berlin’s unpretentiousness and the casual style of its inhabitants. Where London is so theatrical, like a giant dressing up box, Berliners dress down deliberately, it’s all about sharp, strong silhouettes, understatement instead of egocentric inscenation. I can’t wait for Berlin fashion week, due to take off on Monday.

 
moi at the East Side Gallery

 
me and my travel companion extraordinaire Irma