Uncovering the Innovative Indie Brands of Berlin Fashion Week’s “INTERVENTION”
Where there are young, independent brands, there is usually boundary-pushing, thought-provoking fashion. And at Berlin Fashion Week this rang true.
The relative youthfulness of the Fall/Winter 2025 schedule was epitomized by the third edition of INTERVENTION, a project by communications agency Reference Studios.
With fresh talent joining the INTERVENTION roster, all the labels showing at the event were under 10 years old. These are the brands pushing Berlin’s fashion scene forward, a mix of insider favorites with exciting new names.
Hosted across four floors in a former car park on February 2, INTERVENTION III was kicked off by Kasia Kucharska (winner of the FCG/Vogue Fashion Fund 2024).
The capabilities of Kucharska’s signature latex technique were on full display: The elastic material was transformed into a dress, no stitching required in its construction and layers of twisting latex piled atop each other to create a complex web of shiny string.
It’s a technologically advanced process, Kucharska sculpts these items from naturally biodegradable liquid latex, which was cleverly interwoven into more recognizable forms: Argyle knits with latex overlays or patchwork sweaters held together by the squiggly stuff. These were familiar garments re-engineered through Kucharska’s distinctive, cutting-edge lens.
Next up, returning to the INTERVENTION calendar after having arguably the most viral moment of Berlin Fashion Week last season complete with a vape performance, LUEDER landed yet another provocative, social media-friendly moment: A grey tank top with bold red writing reading “Men are so BACK.”
The show notes for the collection speak of 19th-century tapestries and underground rave culture in the same breath. And the rest of clothing was equally eclectic. Fur-trimmed hoodies, pointy jester-style shoes, deconstructed sports jerseys… the show had it all.
From this playful display of irony, we move to GmbH where seriousness was the order of the day.
“In serious times — and we are living in very serious, even terrifying times — fashion can seem frivolous. How can creativity survive under such conditions? How can we find purpose in our work as fashion designers?” read GmbH's show notes.
Split into two sections, the opening act of GmbH FW25 was tailoring heavy: sheer fabrics combined with sharp suiting, the brand’s signature shoulder-bearing necklines added to overcoats, and leather boots with angular square toes. GmbH co-founder Benjamin A. Huseby’s father never leaves the house without a suit, and the power in his formal attire was one thing on the designers’ minds this season.
Then, Gunvor Hofmo’s poem, From Another Reality (1947), which the collection is named after, was played, the Norwegian modernist poet’s themes of grief, despair, and war are noted in the aforementioned document.
More tailoring followed the interlude, this time with more broad-shouldered constructions, combined with outdoorsy fleeces, knee-high boots, and two sweaters sporting the phrase “Refuse to trade with the enemy.” Throughout the show, some models held Islamic prayer beads.
The sportswear and workwear elements found in previous GmbH showings were reduced to near obscurity. This was, as GmbH had intended, serious clothing. Musings on the state of the world have always bled into GmbH shows — sometimes in more blatant ways than others — and the same was true here.
Founded in 2022, the final brand to present at INTERVENTION, Andrej Gronau, is arguably the least established of the bunch. However, still comes with an impressive CV.
Gronau’s Central Saint Martins master's collection won him the Isabella Blow Award, presented by the British Fashion Council, and he is fresh from winning this season’s Berlin Contemporary Prize (as are GmbH and LUEDER). Plus, the brand is stocked internationally at shops including SSENSE, H. Lorenzo, and GR8.
A series of large bows, star-shaped ornaments, and tiny fake ears adorned the twenty looks on display, building on the childlike whimsy the brand has established. That is, for any brand, a difficult thing to achieve: To establish a distinct voice in an increasingly crowded fashion industry. And across INTERVENTION's curation of designers, it proved there's a cohort of young, innovative, and distinct brands to discover in the German capital.
