Clothes and Fashion

Once Berlin was the thriving centre of Germany's fashion industry. Now it veers between a stage for upcoming young fashion designers and a sartorial disaster zone (Berlin probably is the worst dressed capital of any EU member state). Nevertheless even in Berlin it is possible to dress fashionably and expensively (though not necessarily at the same time).

Brand junkies can shop until dropping time (or closing time) in theFriedrichstraße in the historic centre of eastern Berlin, which has been transformed from a dowdy socialist shopping street into a consumerist paradise. Check out luxury department storeQuartier 206 for all your brand needs under one roof. Western Berlin isn't lacking in premium label boutiques either.The KaDeWe on Wittenbergplatz has recently undergone extensive refurbishment and now boasts a huge variety of shop-in-shops, while the area around theFasanenstraße has always been the gathering place for the big names in fashion and luxury.

Following reunification the old district of Mitte quickly became the place to be for young and innovative creators, and many new shops and boutiques sprang up in the area between Hackescher Markt and Torstrasse. The inevitable happened though: the big chains followed, and the young fashion scene has moved a little way out, now centred on the Kastanienallee with one foot in Prenzlauer Berg. Out in Friedrichshain a small but innovative scene is developing in theFrankfurter Allee near the Ring Center centered arount the Berlinomat.