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 the launch of its new fragrance series Clash, even as upstairs in a vacant lot, Michel Gaubert live-streamed the contents of his iPhone to Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence.” Further returned, Alyx’s Matthew Williams paired up with artist Haruka Hirata to provide a stay installation of Japanese ikebana flower arranging, stimulated through their studio’s studied coaching for the 1017 Alyx 9SM show in 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 unexplored and unconventional thoughts, with no relation to the fashion schedule, trade suggests—or, in some instances, promoting something at all.
“For a long time, Berlin’s been a metropolis of frequently drastic changes,” said Miami Haiti, CEO of Reference Studios and the important 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 across the sharing of statistics within the submit-digital age. Installation using MTV and design studio Selam X explored what beauty method 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.
The transhuman duo Fecal Matter gave a speech on technology and style, and for the duration of the space, guests regarded to sense proper at home, sitting on the ground sipping Moscow Mules, taking in the exhibitions, and dancing at the garage roof as the sun went down.
It felt fitting to preserve the occasion in Berlin, a laid-back metropolis recognized for its low rents, techno scene, and open, dynamic artistic network. Fashion hasn’t continually been an important part of the town’s cultural material, but as Berlin continues to convert, it’s imparting a space for uncooked collaboration that is slowly commencing to interactions from the outside.
Within the context of the subject, the individuals in Reference had been given free rein to create whatever they wanted; nevertheless, many were attracted to the underground club tradition so ingrained within the city. Photographer Jordan Hemingway teamed up with Jan Heinrich with the assist of Dover Street Market, trying to “the undocumented automobile whose designs dominate subculture and pop culture for the beyond 30 years.” The vehicle they’re regarding? Ecstasy capsules. Meanwhile, Berlin-primarily based artist Spilios Gianakopoulos supplied an set up entitled Sex, and CCTV Radio—the new platform from the creators of TRADE Berlin—spun minimum, psychedelic techno in a smoky room on the top ground of the parking deck.“Berlin is home to my innovative community and queer family, and it offers me an open area to experiment and play that I’ve never discovered anywhere else,” stated Lambert, who directed the movie for Comme des Garçons. “Everything is simply too smooth every so often and there’s not sufficient poetry,” added Adrian Joffe, the global president of both Comme and Dover Street Market. “Berlin is the appropriate vicinity for such trust and advent to take location.”The festival expects to maintain in future years, doubling in size next year and displaying in Los Angeles in addition to Berlin. As it stands now, Reference changed into an extraordinary natural area for innovative expression and interaction. Perhaps the broader fashion industry ought to drop by means of Berlin more regularly.
