Berlin Lines Up Westwood and Boss for Opening Season

Fashion Week Berlin has lined up a string of local heavy hitters, including Hugo Boss, Puma and Michalsky, plus Britian's Vivienne Westwood for the launch of its new fashion season.

Entitled Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin, the twice-yearly season makes its debut this summer, scheduled from July 12 to 15 in the German capital.

The brainchild of IMG Fashion, Fashion Week Berlin’s catwalk shows will be staged in a custom-built space before the backdrop of the Brandenburg Gate, the sight of ecstatic scenes back in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell.

Germany’s leading designer brand Hugo Boss will kick off the new season on the opening day with a runway show of the spring-summer 2008 collection of its edgier Hugo line.

In something of a coup, Vivienne Westwood will present her Anglomania collection. Westwood is a habitué of Berlin; she was until last year a professor in the city’s leading fashion school, UDK.

Also joining the calendar is Michalsky, the urban sportswear collection designed by Michael Michalsky, the former creative director of adidas, the debut of the Rudolf Dassler by Puma collection and eccentric local brand Sisi Wasabi.

The season will also showcase five emerging, young designers on Sunday, July 15. The five - C.Neeon, Kaviar Gauche, Talkingmeanstrouble., Macqua and Lala Berlin – will compete for a New Generation Award, sponsored by Kardstadt-Quelle, Germany’s leading department store chain which will then retail the winner’s collection.

“Berlin, with its unparalleled energy and creativity, will provide a strong foundation for this new fashion initiative, which will appropriately combine international brands that appeal to the city’s spirit with local and up and coming designers,” commented Fern Mallis, Vice President of IMG Fashion in New York.

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