German designer Dorothee Schumacher opened Berlin's annual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on Wednesday with a collection of neutral-toned business wear enhanced by delicate touches of bows and sparkle trim.
Although Schumacher has been on the scene since 1989, the Berlin event, which runs through Saturday, is expected to grab attention by highlighting young designers who struggle to get noticed in New York, Milan or Paris.
Other big names in Berlin include German fashion houses Escada and Hugo Boss.
Schumacher's appearance at the shows for spring and summer 2010 was her second at the Berlin event since she entered the fashion world with the goal of infusing femininity into clothes that could be worn in the business world.
"If you look deep in my pieces, you will find that feminine touch. It's in the little places, the little bows, the little things," Schumacher told The Associated Press after her show.
"Femininity can be powerful," Schumacher said.
Most of her pieces were in taupe, cream and mauve with cropped pants and above-the-knee dresses accented with subtle gold and silver sparkle trims and small bows. A few pieces harked back to the 1980s, featuring hot pink silk juxtaposed with black zippers or black trim.
"Schumacher is an internationally recognized brand that can help smaller brands by being here," said Zach Eichman, a spokesman for the Fashion Week organizers.
Alfons Kaiser, the fashion editor for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, said Schumacher's collection set her apart from many other German designers. "Most of them are edgier, more punk," he said. "She is not avant garde, but is more classic and feminine."
Young Munich-based designer Marcel Ostertag also returned to Berlin this year with a collection juxtaposing unusual fabrics and patterns to reflect what he called "nature's contradictions."
"I wanted to take the contradictions of nature and put them with modern looks to get something other than simply 'hippies' or 'the sixties,'" Ostertag told The AP after his show.
He patterned leather with lace in several pieces, while one dress featured a combination of checkered cotton, polka dots and floral print.
Ostertag credited his German background for his work ethic.
"Germany has made me very organized and very, very punctual," he said.
Eichman credits that kind of behavior as a major reason for Berlin's growing success in the fashion industry.
"The people here are sophisticated in business in the way that they're married into a lot of other industries," he said. "Plus, here you also have a young, creative constituency combined with a relatively cheap place to live. I think Berlin really celebrates that."
