BEING BOLD IN TODAY’S AGE BY BREAD & BUTTER 2017

By Crash redaction

Running from 1st-3rd September 2017 at Arena Berlin, Bread & Butter marks its second edition by ushering in a new impulse under the theme “Bold”. In times of downloadable fashion, increasingly adventurous purchasing behavior and concern about sustainability within a highly complex globalized fashion system, the entire fashion industry is being reshaped and needs reinvention.

The event is all about democratizing fashion. A rare opportunity indeed will be given to the public to attend to catwalk shows by G-Star Raw, Jil Sander Navy and Viktor&Rolf who will give a talk. Right away, the public will be able to buy their must-have from the shows equipped with the SeeNow/Buy Now technology. For this edition, the “Festival of Style and Culture” by the digital industry player, Zalando, is now engaging into “a bold move” provoking the meeting among creative players and between brands and the public, insisted Carsten Hendrich, VP Brand Marketing of the company, at the preview we attented to at Artist Hall at Holzmarktstrasse,

More than forty fashion brands for Winter/Fall 2017 will be featured with brands like Adidas, Converse, Fila, Nike, Levi’s or Topshop. Special events like fitness training by sportswear brands and impressive dance performances by the Twins will definitely energize the boundary-pushing festival setting the stage for interactions with designers, media, artists, fashion leaders and culinary creative. Gastronomic food coming from all over the world will definitely rejoice the festival goers to make the most of the event all day long. All gathered around the theme of “Bold”. And see what happens.

Last but not least, inspirational keynotes will act as food for soul. The “Bold” theme will reach its climax with B&&B Talks, more particularly one with Vivienne Westwood whose lifelong activism is stronger than ever and will be paid homage with “an immersive exhibition of anarchic from Dame Vivienne Westwood’s archives”.

Be bold by using consumption as an ethical and political domain, praises the fashion icon guest of Bread & Butter 2017, Vivienne Westwood.

Who else than the leading designer and Queen of Punk could incarnate better Bread & Butter’s boldness? Dame Vivienne Westwood’s activism, directness and personal style never fail to impress. The self-proclaimed activist definitely will have strong messages to pass on so to the Bread & Butter community: we, consumers, should view consumption as an ethical and political domain. All in all, consumption should be considered as a voting act. The doing well by doing good philosophy is her message: “How to change the world for the better? I am trying to buy less, choose well and make it last. “How do you become bold? You have to make a choice: people just follow desire, they think they follow their opinions, but they consume. You have got to choose less and consume less,” the designer insisted. Her vision of fashion aiming at an uncompromising quality and an ode to being oneself, and not a follower, was welcome with wide acclaim. Balancing business and activism is still possible, the successful designer underscored. One has “to make something new” and “offer something special”, getting away from “the general morass of consumerism”. People are choosing what they wear and “it’s a real choice”, she reminded all of us. “We have to save the world, you can’t ignore it, it’s in your face! Do something, anything, you’ve got to make a start”, Vivienne Westwood preaches.

Be bold by being entrepreneurial and resilient

Besides Dame Vivienne Westwood, we attended to a panel discussion on how being bold today is experienced by the avant-garde of the creative scene. The discussion with Adwoa Aboah, Aitor Throup, Erika Bowes, Fergus Purcell and MikeQ will praise entrepreneurship, resilience, diversity, while tearing further away barriers between the digital and the physical experience. The designer of the much awaited coming capsule for Helmut Lang, Aitor Throup, interestingly conveys his experience of social networks as an intense transmitter of physical energy, akin to sexual energy somehow, as sex and gender issues will be included in talks. With model and actress Adwoa Aboah, we are moved by her resilience with her project Gurls Talk to get girls across the world to open up about mental health, body image and sexuality. “Honesty is the best policy”, she suggests as a slogan tee-shirt for what being bold means to her.

Reflecting on her creative journey, Dame Vivienne Westwood has summed it all indeed: “I’ve always had one criterion:  I like it.” In today’s age, would this still be today’s bold and Punk?

Bread & Butter, September 1-3, 2017, Arena Berlin, Eichenstrasse 4, 12435 berlin, Germany

https://www.breadandbutter.com/

BERLIN, GERMANY –  Carsten Hendrich, Vivienne Westwood and David Schneider attend the Bread & Butter by Zalando 2017 – Preview Event  (Photo by Isa Foltin/Getty Images for Zalando)

BERLIN, GERMANY : A guest, Singer Peaches, Actress Lilith Stangenberg and Model Marie Nasemann  (Photo by Alexander Koerner/Getty Images for Zalando)

Written by Stéphanie Bui