Welcome to Berlin Fashion Week

As well as being Europe's freshest capital of cool, Berlin now hosts one of the biggest events on the fashion calendar: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Over the next four days, 23 German design teams and two international labels will be presenting their Autumn 2009 / Winter 2010 creations at shows and presentations around Berlin.

This is only the fourth season Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week has taken place in the German capital. But despite its youth, Fashion Week Berlin has quickly established itself next to London, Paris, Milan and New York on the international scene.

The most sought-after front-row seats are at the German heavyweight designers Hugo Boss (with the Boss Black collection), Joop! and Michalsky. Boss Black head designer Ingo Wilts will be presenting the new collection tonight in a historical greenhouse in the Dahlem Botanical Gardens.

I caught up with designer Viktoria Strehle of the German label Strenesse to talk about the new collection Strenesse Blue. "It plays with contradictions, just like the city of Berlin does", says Strehle, whose creations are on sale in the UK at Claudia Sebire on the Fulham Road. "It's sort of a game of contrasts: iridescence with matt, short with long, boys with girls, men's trousers with girls' tops."

Strenesse has been with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week since its inception in July 2007. What's Strenesse's motto for 2009? "In the words of the American president: 'Change'. I think a lot is going to happen", says Strehle.

This week there will also be opportunities for young designers to get exposure. With nine fashion schools in the city, Berlin is a goldmine of creative talent. The label 30paarhaende (which means "30 pairs of hands" in German) is made up of students in their final semester at FHTW, a Berlin university. 30paarhaende will present its designs on Sunday, the second time the student-based label has taken part in Fashion Week Berlin.

The German retailer Peek & Cloppenburg will also present a "Designer for Tomorrow" award on Friday. Eight recent graduates will be competing for the prize, which includes a six-month mentor program, and an order from the chain of department stores.