As the Grande Dame of international fashion journalism in Berlin, Melissa Drier has an unrivaled perspective on the city's past and potential. A native New Yorker, Drier moved to Berlin in 1985 as the German correspondent for Women's Wear Daily. Here, we discuss her perceptions of the city's problems and promise.
Ana Finel Honigman: The last time we spoke, you said that Berlin needs "more." But last season had a lot. Was it enough? Was it right?
Melissa Drier: Last season was definitely an improvement.
AFH: There was more, but more of what?
MD: There was more critical mass. There was so much critical mass that I didn't see half of what was going on. Unfortunately. There were new young designer shows which had nothing to do with the official line-up, which sounded promising. But some of it was a mess, not because of the designers involved but because there was a lack of general professionalism.
AFH: How are you defining "professionalism?" Is it just a matter of seating people properly or avoiding basic chaos?
MD: I just mean that I am not at the shows for fun. I am there to work. It is what I do. I want the shows to have some reason to them. There are no rules, but it is question of taking fashion seriously. There is an undercurrent that is afraid to do that here. This is a problem on a lot of levels. The discussion about whether to have the shows at Bebelplatz makes me crazy.
AFH: What about financing or the structure of the week itself?
MD: I think that the biggest hole we've got here is support for young designers, still. It is building. There are definitely good things going on.
AFH: Who are your favorites?
MD: I just look season by season. Who was my favorite this season? Even when I was working with the big boys in New York, I was still a season by season editor. Ask me who is the best and I can tell you who was the best this season.
AFH: Isn't that problematic? Isn't it better for a brand to have a recognizable DNA? And people don't suddenly develop or lose skill over six months.
MD: That's not what I'm talking about. There are always labels that you will believe in, but from season to season there are ups and downs. Our insane fashion calendar moves so fast these days that there is no way that people can change the world in six months, let alone four, given resort, pre-this, post-that. Then there are the expectations of what one sees at a catwalk show in Berlin. I think that's just the hope that there will be an individual statement being made.
AFH: You've lived here for eons?
MD: Twenty-four years. When I got here, the fashion look was always asymmetrical. Tons of red and black. Then there was a rehashed punkiness that never went away. I would feel guilty for not doing my homework but I would show up at these little events and fairs and just see the same stuff again and again. But now, it is developing.
AFH: You're able to see this development in context. But there seems to be a pull for international critics, who don't live here and who aren't invested in the long-term, to pop over and loudly get disappointed that they haven't landed in Paris.
MD: They are here for the Berlin buzz.
AFH: What should they keep in mind when looking here?
MD: They need to always remember that they are not in any of the major capitals that they are used to. And they can't be comparing it to that level. Sure, there are some collections here that can be seen on that tier. But there just isn't the same amount of money being spent on shows. It just comes off differently. It is a developing market. Let it develop.
AFH: There is so much money swimming around this country and this is not a "developing" economy. This is a real luxury market. Why hasn't the fashion industry been cultivated before?
MD: It isn't a real luxury market. These markets are dealing with the same standard luxury brands that everyone else has. There are any number of homegrown designers – there’s one in Frankfurt whose name escapes me -- doing a high-level product. But they don't show here. I don't know why. At one point, (the organizers) wanted to get international names in here to up the ante. But that raises the question of "why?" Why would someone be showing here? Why at this time?
AFH: It just looks inauthentic and a bit desperate to have Naomi Campbell swanning around for an afternoon, for no apparent reason.
MD: It's strange but people aren't really schooled here. The media isn't really schooled here. Retailers are – sort of -- but they only take fashion seriously when it's from somewhere else.
AFH: Why?
MD: There are different reasons why that happens. But there has never been one real center for German fashion. At least not after the war. We can name the bigger brands on one hand. A lot of them are commercial. This is an apparel market. It is a commercial market. What we are trying to do here, in Berlin, is to get fashion out there on different levels.
AFH: On one hand you have the high-level intellectually challenging discourse around contemporary art.
MD: Which is not always good.
AFH: Of course, but it's allowed to fail. And that level of humanity lets this become a really respected and nurturing project space for international artistic talents. But there is also a luxury market here for things like cars and gadgets.
MD: Of course!
AFH: Why isn't fashion then the synthesis for these ways of looking and spending money? Why isn't it the child of art and cars for a high-end consumer? There has to another Jil Sander somewhere.
MD: The people spending money on fashion at that level want status fashion. They have to be a bit funky and have an underground spirit to frame themselves as art related. And when people on that level want to get funky, they wear Rick Owens not Don't Shoot the Messenger, even though you can look as cool in DONT SHOOT THE MESSENGERS. I just wish that there was body of people in the know who would promote things. But there is also a tendency in this city to talk things down before they happen or before they are allowed to be. We're going into the sixth season here. Fashion Week is a baby. It's what we've got. We need to make it better. We don't need to bitch about it, even if that’s what I’m good at.
AFH: How do you perceive Women's Wear Daily's role, and your individual role, here?
MD: I am rather pleased that Women's Wear gives Berlin the space it does.
AFH: Because there isn't that much of an industry here and it's an industry publication?
MD: It’s a trade publication, and WWD isn't that interested in little labels until they’re picked up by some of our retailers. And they don’t generally come here, though they might inadvertently buy a new German label in Paris or elsewhere on their normal rounds. I mean I can’t tell people to come to Berlin and skip Paris or Milan. Barney's did come once and liked it. But with their schedules, retailers need to spend time in their stores. Or with their kids on the fourth of July. Still, when they see something in WWD, it helps build credibility. It's good that they see that things happen here.
AFH: What about Munich Fashion Week?
MD: Please! I've seen Munich die twice. I don't need to see it happen a third time. I don't know why it's going on. It's just a funny car thing between BMW and [Mercedes-]Benz. That's the story.
AFH: What about the local press here? What are the stories for them?
MD: They are just interested in fourth-rate celebrities. They don't have people writing about the clothes. They don't care about the clothes. It's this trashy "oh look, a red dress" reporting. German Vogue tries to help. Elle tries to help. But it's always the same names. We all would be fooling ourselves to say that it's taken seriously.
AFH: I think that there should be the equivalent of gallery weekend here for fashion. There should just be showrooms and presentations for international press and buyers. None of the big hoopla. Or, if they want that meshugaas, then do it as just entertainment and maybe do it in Munich where it can be on TV all the time, and leave the fashion in its nice organic context here where the pressure to be pretentious is off and people can just know that this is the week to really experience and engage with real Berlin.
MD: They have showrooms in Dusseldorf, but what you're talking about would be cooler. People know what to expect in Dusseldorf. It is not an exploratory weekend. As a retailer, it is not a discovery weekend.
AFH: Sure, and let's be honest - if I were a buyer from Barney's, why would I want to go to Dusseldorf instead of coming to Berlin. Berlin does have the buzz and it can be a real destination point for busy buyers who don't just want to go to a trade-events but want to see a real city. But here, it could be in galleries, like what happens here sometimes but less bullshit. It could just be closer to art and more grounded.
MD: The idea sounds good, but would they come? Like that baseball movie with Kevin Kostner – do it and they will come… But there are only so many weeks in the year.
AFH: What do you think of Bread & Butter?
MD: It's a completely different market. They don't pretend it’s not. B&B gives the city an amazing buzz and that's great. Not all the collections are great. I personally don't understand why an awful lilac tee-shirt from this season is different from an awful lilac purple tee-shirt from last season. But this is a different language. I don't speak that language. I am not that generation and I don't relate to it. I’m more into the LOCK (Labels of Common Kin) kind of thing at B&B. But I appreciate that the distinctions exist.
AFH: Without making too much of this, can we say that maybe it's not generational. Maybe it's a gender issue. We're saying that cars, sneakers, jeans and Jonathan Messe make money here. Is it possible that Germany is just not too interested in fashion because money is still male here? It's not sexist, per se. Merkel isn't a Carla Bruni or Michelle Obama, but who cares? However, maybe, it's just simply that the culture cares about more traditionally male types of products and fashion just gets shuffled aside.
MD: Maybe.
AFH: Or could it be some residual rejection of consumerism?
MD: After the war, there was the feeling that you just had to put clothing on people. Fashion was secondary. On the other hand, in the eighties, Germany was a real windfall for Italy. I would be at Versace and want to know who was buying the more outlandish pieces (for men) and it was the Germans. Germany was really a place where the most wild parts of the collections went. The taste buds have changed now.
AFH: In Berlin, or throughout Germany?
MD: Everywhere. Germany was so decentralized when I came here that I could have gone anywhere. Which is how I got away with being in Berlin. It was all confusion. It was all open. Now Berlin’s showing real potential. But the big car companies don't distinguish between fashion and fashion. They want glamour and flash. I always thought that it would have made more sense to have Smart be the brand behind Berlin Fashion Week, not Mercedes.
AFH: That would have made sense. That would have been honest and organic.
MD: But it's not sexy enough.
AFH: "Poor but sexy" is a bad tag line for fashion that hopes to survive.
MD: What’s maybe worse is that there just isn't a deeper understanding throughout that fashion isn't just clothes. Fashion is a larger romance for what's on the street and what’s everywhere. It might be a grungy romance but it's still romantic. Visitors love picking up stuff here that they don't get elsewhere. And we love being here. We love living here. Berlin doesn’t have much of a buying public but it's a great place to live. It's a fight when it comes to fashion but it's a fight everywhere. Berlin is just a better place to be than a lot of other places.
