Germany plays an important role in the fashion industry, along with France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Spain, and Japan. German fashion is known for unconventional young designers and manufacturers of sports and outdoor clothing, ready-to-wear and custom-made creations. [1]
Berlin, the country's capital city, is also a fashion capital of the world and the home of Berlin Fashion Week, the country's main event where young and creative German fashion designers showcase unique creations. [2] Other important cities to the German fashion landscape are Munich, [3] Hamburg and Cologne. [4] Smaller places such as Herford, Metzingen, Herzogenaurach, Schorndorf, Chemnitz, Albstadt and Detmold. [5] are also important design and production hubs of the German fashion industry.
In around 1,300 companies with more than 130,000 employees, a revenue of 28 billion Euro is generated by the German textile industry. Almost 44 percent of the products are exported. The textile branch thus is the second largest producer of consumer goods in Germany, after food production. [6] [7]
Famous fashion brands include MCM, Hugo Boss, Adidas, PUMA, Escada, JOOP!, Bruno Banani, Jil Sander, Triumph, Schiesser, Closed, Reusch, Valisere, Jack Wolfskin, Ulla Popken, Buffalo, Rohde, Marc O'Polo, Tom Tailor, s.Oliver, Esprit, Wunderkind, Seidensticker, Windsor., Jaques Britt, Naketano.
There are also various agencies hosting multiple German brands and designers at once, such as zLabels Berlin. [8] Also the big department stores like Kaufhof and Karstadt, retail chains like Peek & Cloppenburg, Ulla Popken and NewYorker or mail order and online shops like Otto and Zalando have various in-house fashion brands.
The Bread & Butter in Berlin [9] is a leading trade fair for street fashion and ready-to-wear trends, twice annually during Berlin Fashion Week. [2] [10] [11] The Igedo fair Collection Première Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf (CPD) was the world's dominating fashion fair for years. [12]
Renowned fashion designers from Germany are e.g. Karl Lagerfeld, Hugo Boss, Wolfgang Joop, Jil Sander, Michael Michalsky, Etienne Aigner, Tomas Maier, Robert Geller, Philipp Plein, Rudolph Moshammer, Torsten Amft, Uli Herzner, Gabriele Strehle, Christoph Tisch, Marc Engelhard, [13] Willy Bogner, Rudolf and Adi Dassler. [14]
Important fashion media of Germany include the German Vogue, Elle, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, Jolie, Glamour, Grazia, Life&Style and Sleek magazines. The German fashion magazine with the longest continued tradition is Burda Style, that was first published by Aenne Burda in 1950, who also established the major Bauer Media Group. Also various general women magazines and tabloids like Joy, Brigitte, Petra, Gala and Bunte are influential in regards to fashion perception.
As for television, FashionTV can be received via cable or satellite. Various casting shows reach a large audience in Germany, including Germany's Next Topmodel by Heidi Klum. Also on ProSieben, the series Fashion Hero starring Claudia Schiffer was looking for fashion design talents. The Shopping Queen format at VOX stars designer Guido Maria Kretschmer, it provides five contestants with 500 EUR to buy them a fashion outfit and styling in four hours, to compete with each other.
Important modeling agency locations in Germany are Berlin (izaio, CORE Artist Management, Seeds Models, Viva Models, OneEins), Munich ( Louisa Models, Most Wanted Models, Munich Models, Nova Models, Talents München, Vivienne Models) and Hamburg ( CORE Artist Management, MGM Models, iconic management, m 4 models, Mega Models, Model Management, Modelwerk, Most Wanted Models, Place Models, PMA Models). Also agencies in Vienna and Zurich host models based in Germany, as well as major global agencies like IMG Models, DNA, Elite, Models 1 and NEXT. [15]
There is a range of fashion models from Germany that made it to international fame, such as Claudia Schiffer, Heidi Klum, Diane Kruger, Eva Padberg, Toni Garrn, Julia Stegner, Tatjana Patitz, Anna Ewers, Manon von Gerkan, Birte Glang, Nico, Uschi Obermaier, Carola Remer, Franziska Knuppe, Vanessa Hegelmaier, Lena Gercke, Sara Nuru, Barbara Meier, Nadja Auermann, Claudia Ciesla, Aslı Bayram, Shermine Shahrivar, Evelyn Sharma, Victoria Jancke, Marten Laciny, Nico Schwanz and Lars Burmeister. [16]
Fashion education in Germany is centered on art schools, universities and the major fashion manufacturers. [17]
Academic institutions that offer courses in fashion design include:
A supermodel is a highly paid fashion model who has a worldwide reputation and background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became popular in the 1990s. Supermodels usually work for prominent fashion designers and clothing brands. They may have multimillion-dollar contracts, endorsements, and campaigns. Supermodels have branded themselves as household names and worldwide recognition is associated with their modeling careers. They have been on the covers of leading fashion magazines. Claudia Schiffer stated in 2007 that, "In order to become a supermodel one must be on all the covers all over the world at the same time so that people can recognise the girls."
Jugendstil was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of Art Nouveau. The members of the movement were reacting against the historicism and neo-classicism of the official art and architecture academies. It took its name from the art journal Jugend, founded by the German artist Georg Hirth. It was especially active in the graphic arts and interior decoration.
Claudia Maria Schiffer is a German model and actress based in the United Kingdom. She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, attaining supermodel status. In her early career, she was compared to Brigitte Bardot.
Karl Otto Lagerfeld was a German fashion designer.
Heidi Klum is a German and American model, television host, producer, and businesswoman. She appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1998 and was the first German model to become a Victoria's Secret Angel.
The culture of Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically, Germany has been called Das Land der Dichter und Denker. German culture originated with the Germanic tribes, the earliest evidence of Germanic culture dates to the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany and Denmark. Contact with Germanic tribes were described by various Greco-Roman authors. The first extensive writing done on Germanic culture can be seen during the Roman Imperial Period with Germania by Tacitus.
Peter Lindbergh was a German fashion photographer and film director.
Barbara Meier is a German fashion model and actress. She is best known as the winner of the second season of Germany's Next Topmodel.
Iris Von Arnim is an internationally acclaimed German fashion designer.
Antonia Garrn is a German model. She rose to prominence in the fashion industry after signing an exclusive contract with Calvin Klein in 2008.
Frank Rocholl is a German graphic designer, art director and typeface designer. He is also creative director and co-editor of the international fashion publication Mirage Magazine.
The AMD Akademie Mode & Design is the design department of the private Fresenius University of Applied Sciences. With locations in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Wiesbaden, Munich and Berlin, AMD is thus part of one of the largest private universities of applied sciences in Germany and is based in Idstein together with the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences. Accredited study programs, training and further education programmes in the fields of design, fashion, communication and industry-specific management are part of its educational offer.
Haman Alimardani is an Iranian-born German fashion designer, graphic designer, and disc jockey. Hamansutra is his fashion label. He lives and works in New York City and Munich.
Berlin Fashion Week is a fashion week held twice annually in Berlin, Germany. Since its establishment in July 2007 it has gained great international attention for its many creative young designers who are flourishing in the fashion capital of Berlin. Since July 2011, the event has taken place part in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
Thomas Hayo is a German creative director. He has worked with models such as Gisele Bündchen, Naomi Campbell, Toni Garrn, Doutzen Kroes and Alessandra Ambrosio.
Joachim Baldauf is a German photographer and publisher. He currently lives in Berlin.
Bread&Butter was an annual Berlin-based event and a year-round online shopping hub by Zalando.
Regina Relang (1906–1989) was a German fashion photographer and photojournalist active in the 1950s and 1960s. She documented the latest designs of prominent fashion houses.
Anja Gockel is a German fashion designer.
Galvan London is a British contemporary fashion brand designed by four international women.
Bread & Butter Berlin(BBB) confirms its position as the leading international trade fair and trademark.
(BBB), the leading international trade event for progressive, contemporary clothing brands