take the A-TRANE

There are few things you can do on a Saturday night out with the family that involve getting home at 2:30 am. Apparently, hitting Berlin's best jazz club is one of them.

Last night, the A-trane was filled to the brim with jazz lovers anticipating the performance of Torsten Goods, one of Germany's leading young jazz guitarists. Goods can boast an impressive resumée despite his mere 28 years of age. During his studies, which he completed at the renowned New School University in NYC, Goods played with and learned from the likes of John Scofield, Jack Wilkins, Mike Stern, Peter Bernstein, Howard Alden, Frank Vignola and Les Paul. He was the only European finalist in the "Thelonious Monk Jazz Guitar Competition" in Washington (2005) and has performed throughout Europe, Asia and the USA. As one of his biggest musical influences, Torsten Goods names the Grammy Award-winning American jazz musician George Benson, who also inspired Goods to sing along to his songs.

Instead of simply promoting his newest album "1980", the much-acclaimed jazz musician and his band presented a musical potpourri of jazz classics. Despite the dazzling effect that his silky-smooth vocals and virtuosic guitar playing had on the audience, Torsten Goods did not claim the limelight. He left plenty of opportunities for his band members to impress equally as much. The on-stage communication between Goods, Olaf Polziehn (piano), Christian von Kaphengst (bass) and Martijn Vink (drums) further illustrated how good live performances are the product of mutual respect, passion for music and of course, talent.

Surprise guest of the night: the much celebrated German trumpet player Till Brönner. While tickets to one of Brönner's concerts may internationally be priced at $40 or more, it is not uncommon for him to spontaneously stop by the A-trane for an on-stage jam session. Welcome to Berlin, baby!

top- Torsten Goods and band; bottom- surprise guest Till Brönner

berlin is a snowy mess right now

(image courtesy of gruntpig on flickr.com)

my friend tenzin...

... has an incredibly good taste in music. Every now and then, he sends me links to new music videos on Youtube. And every now and then, I am amazed.

In this particular case, I have to admit I was already a big fan of the Cold War Kids when they released their first album Robbers & Cowards in 2006. Now, the boys are back with their newest EP, Behave Yourself. Thanks to Tenzin, I'm currently hooked on Audience, one of the songs off the record. Not only is it an absolutely catchy tune, the music video is incredible. Enough with the talking - see for yourself:

Michalsky, Lala Berlin and Kaviar Gauche

Fashion Week the 3rd: Friday's Michalsky Style Nite was yet another event which took place outside the Mercedes-Benz tent on Bebelplatz. While Michalsky, Kaviar Gauche and Lala Berlin ranked among the most-hyped shows at the MBBFW in June, this season the three labels deliberately dissociated themselves and pooled together for a breathtaking showcase in the Friedrichstadtpalast.

Naturally, the choice of location allowed for a very extravagant and elaborate runway setup. Impressive audio installations and light effects topped off the spectacle. However, it seems as though Michalsky's futuristic catwalk and the 'human disco ball'-performance preluding Kaviar Gauche's show outshone the actual fashion designs that were presented. Sensory stimulus en masse or just a massive overkill? You decide.

(click on 'HD off' for a better view)

.(images via welt.de and Vogue.com)
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.HBC Designer Scouts

Berlin Fashion Week is about much more than just the big white tent on Bebelplatz. In fact, a lot of its charm lies in alternative off-site events, like the .HBC Couture: Designer Scouts runway project.
On Thursday night, the art space/party venue was jam-packed with an eclectic and terribly fashionable crowd of artists, hipsters, journalists and fashion-lovers. In between the three sets of shows, one could enjoy a free drink or two (spotted: unknown woman stashing numerous bottles of Becks beer in her handbag) or mill around and get acquainted with the other guests, which included the likes of Katja Hentschel, Jan Joswig and nearly every fashion blogger I can think of. Amongst the designers who presented their work were Starstyling, JuliaandBend, von Bardonitz, Don't Shoot the Messengers and A.D.Deertz.

As soon as the last model had stepped off the runway, the doors of the former Hungarian culture institute also opened themselves for the general public: party tiiime! I had the pleasure of meeting Gerlinde from Vienna and Julia Stelzner, both journalists and hobby-bloggers themselves. My personal highlight of the evening: getting photographed for an American fashion magazine's "Berlin Streetstyle" story. To top it all off, this morning I discovered a shot of myself and my 80ies-style silver blouse on LesMads, my all-time favourite blog! Oh, what a night...

A couple of shots straight from the runway (yay for front-row seating!):

Sverige i Berlin

After three consecutive days of roaming the snowy streets of Berlin, visiting showrooms, gallery openings, fashion shows and after-show parties, I have found a little bit of time to reboot and recapitulate the hustle and bustle of Berlin Fashion Week.

On the agenda for Day 1: a series of shows at the Showfloor Berlin, themed "eco chic" and exclusively featuring Swedish designers. As with rock music, children's books and cheap furniture, the Swedish are pioneers in eco-friendly and 'sustainable' fashion design. Although I only managed to stay for the first two shows of the night - Matilda Wendelboe and Righteous Fashion - I was pleasantly surprised by what was presented on the runways. Wendelboe and the Malmö-based designer duo behind Righteous Fashion proved that fairtrade and eco-friendly does not have to equal bland cotton dresses or back-to-Woodstock hippie chic.

4 minutes

The following short film was created by students of the Institute of Fashion and Textile Design at the University of the Arts Berlin. It features original designs by students of the university and doubles as an homage to a newly emerging medium: the 'fashion film'. In my humble opinion, this production is a highly aesthetic blend of visual and audio stimuli. Chapeau!

Throughout Berlin Fashion Week, "4 Minutes" will be screened in the Galeries Lafayette (Friedrichstraße 76-78, 10117 Berlin).

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