Berlin - Bread & Butter, one of world's leading street
fashion fairs, opens in Berlin on Wednesday, alongside the fifth
instalment of the bi-annual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
The Bread & Butter fair, which returns to Berlin after a five-year
absence, has taken over the city's historic Tempelhof airport, after
this finally closed to air traffic last November.
A total of 550 so-called 'street fashion' labels will be on
display until July 3, including brands such as adidas Originals,
denim labels G-Star and Levi's and US singer-cum-designer Justin
Timberlake, who will be presenting his first collection.
Up to 80,000 trade visitors will be expected to peruse next
season's styles, while designers hope to strike lucrative deals with
the stockists visiting the fair, which is not open to the general
public.
Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit negotiated a ten-year deal with Bread
& Butter to win the fair back from its previous home in Barcelona.
From its origins in Cologne, Bread & Butter originally moved to
Berlin in 2003, billed at the time as 'the Mecca of Street Culture,'
before moving on to Spain in 2005.
Wowereit's deal proved controversial, as the trade fair's two
month-long bookings each year rule the grounds out for any other
long-term projects.
At the same time, the fair reinforces Berlin's position as a
design capital, while the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is also gaining
increasing recognition on the international fashion calender.
The Fashion Week features household names such as Escada, Rene
Lezard and Wolfgang Joop who is to present his Wunderkind label,
alongside creative talents such as Lala Berlin, Michalsky and Kaviar
Gauche.
A total of 33 designers will present their Spring/Summer
collection, at fashion shows in Berlin's Bebelplatz and in boutiques
and other locations dotted around the city.
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