This weekend, in an abandoned parking garage in the trendy Berlin community of Neukölln, masses of membership kids, fashion kinds, and expressive eccentrics made their manner via a fog- and graffiti-included exhibition space. Inside, Comme des Garçons provided a surrealistic movie to have fun with the launch of its new fragrance series Clash. Even upstairs in a vacant lot, Michel Gaubert live-streamed the contents of his iPhone to Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence.” Furthermore, Alyx’s Matthew Williams paired up with artist Haruka Hirata to provide a stay installation of Japanese ikebana flower arranging, stimulated by their studio’s studied coaching for the 1017 Alyx 9SM show Paris.
It turned into all part of Reference Berlin, a brand new 24-hour fashion pageant platforming brands from the Korean eyewear label Gentle Monster to cult London menswear clothier Martine Rose, who participated along with creatives like photographer Matt Lambert and wonderful-curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist. All of this came together to form a patchwork of new and unconventional thoughts, with no relation to the fashion schedule, trade suggests—or, in some instances, promoting something.
“For a long time, Berlin’s been a metropolis of frequently drastic changes,” said Miami, Haiti, CEO of Reference Studios and the critical thing organizer of the competition alongside the founders of the 032c mag, Joerg and Maria Koch. “People here realize a way to deal with unusual conditions. I bet you can also call that creativity: There’s a sense of freedom, which makes it an area for experimentation.”
The pageant started on Saturday and ran through to the early hours of Sunday, with nearly 40 participants taking on the sprawling, derelict parking area to present beneath the theme “Working Out Loud,” an idea revolving around sharing statistics within the submit-digital age. Installation using MTV and design studio Selam X explored beauty methods in the age of face filters and augmented fact. Walking through the neon-lit area led to seeing your face turn silver and undefined on one display screen, clean and Botoxed on any other.
