Berlin Fashion Week - ELLE Fashion Star awards gala report

Last saturday the most glamurous event of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin took place to celebrate 20 years of ELLE magazine.

As part of the event Karl Lagerfeld received the lifetime achievement award for his contribution to fashion. The award which is incarnated by a small statue - the “Mercedes” - was awarded by Claudia Schiffer. In his short speech Karl pointed out that he actually is more of a small talker than somebody who is used to holding long speeches and in an interview he expressed his astonishment cause he doesn’t see himself as someone who should be awarded with an award for his lifetime achievement cause he plans to stay for much longer and still has many plans for his future life.

Raf Simmons - designer for Jil Sander - was awarded with the “Mercedes” for “Best Collection” because with his 2008 designs he proved that he’s a master of tailoring. “He uses extraordinary materials without ever loosing the classic Jil Sander touch” was what editor in chief of ELLE magazine Sabine Nedelchev said in the emcomium. The award was handed over to Raf Simons by top fashion model Inés Sastre.

The award for the best newcomers was given to Roberto Rimondi and Tommaso Aquilano of the 6267 label. Actress Natalia Avelon held the emcomium and the award was given to the upcoming star designers by model Astrid Munoz.

Gallery

One of the many highlights of the night was the catwalk where models like Eva Padberg, Toni Garrn, Natasha Poly, Vlada Roslyakova and Valentina Zelyaeva presented designs by 20 of the world’s most famous designers like Akris, Giorgio Armani, Boss Black, Burberry Prorsum, Roberto Cavalli, Chloé, Dior, Escada, Alberta Ferretti, Gucci, Calvin Klein Collection, Ralph Lauren Collection, Missoni, Strenesse Gabriele Strehle, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Wunderkind and Yves Saint Laurent. Every piece shown on the catwalk is auctioned on the german Ebay platform and the proceeds go to Annie Lennox’s charity project SING, which supports the south african anti AIDS organization TAC.

Another show highlight was the performance of Sharleen Spiteri - ex singer of the band Texas and of course Annie Lennox who sang some songs from her huge repertoire which at some point send shivers down the backs of the audience due to her overwhelming performance.

As part of Berlin Fashion Week, the ELLE Fashion Star is another new event which brings Berlin and fashion from Germany into the center of media attention. One glamorous highlight which belongs to a fashion week that is rapidly expanding and is aiming to become one of the big fashion weeks of the world in the future.

Some pictures of the night can be found in the mini gallery contained in this article. Some of our red carpet shots are to be seen in our Gallery.