Berlin, a mecca of culture and creativity

[Dr_Cosmo]

Berlin Minimalist Glamour - New York Times

In Berlin, the greatest luxuries are really rather inexpensive — rents are cheap, galleries and museums are remarkable, and there is the sense of an unflustered lifestyle in this green, canal-laced city. At the same time, a huge influx of creative Mitteleuropeans and the arrival of deep-pocketed Russians are creating a new, more ostentatious consumer culture, best exemplified by the opening last spring of the largest edition of the global hipster private club Soho House.

No city has overhauled its galleries and museums in the past decade as much as Berlin, led by the architect6 David Chipperfield’s remarkable€230 million, or $294 million, restoration of the bombed-out Neues Museum. According to Michael Michalsky, Berlin’s most famous new-generation fashion designer, “Neues Museum symbolizes what this city is all about — new minimalist glamour with old, historic, destroyed Kaiser Wilhelm chic.”

Since unification, the German capital has undergone a remarkable population change, as an estimated 500,000 people left the city in search of factory and service jobs in the west. Meanwhile, movie, media and advertising multinationals relocated their headquarters here and were joined by an enormous tribe of bohemians. Many leading galleries, formerly based in Cologne and Düsseldorf, have set up shop as well. Increasingly, the city’s young yet booming fashion season takes place in art spots. Stefanel’s cashmere collection was unveiled last summer in Der Bunker, a dramatic World War II air-raid shelter, now the home and private gallery of the German art collector Christian Boros.

“In a certain way, Berlin is very un-German, an island by itself,” said Josef Voelk, joint owner of the multibrand boutique The Corner. “There’s lots of space still available and a very intellectual climate, making for a spirit of freedom.” The Corner is located just off Unter den Linden, the ultimate destination for international designers wanting to establish a bridgehead in Germany.

With 12 Michelin-starred restaurants, the highest number of any city in Germany, Berlin last year overtook Hamburg as the country’s most gastronomic city. Yet, the city’s two hippest restaurants — Borchardt and the canal-side Grill Royale — are both far more about schmoozing than culinary excellence.

According to Voelk, Berliners don’t admire ostentation — given the city’s past as the “birthplace of socialism.” It’s not considered politically correct “to flaunt your wealth.” Yet with Moscow only a two-hour flight away and rich Russian and Polish shoppers showing up in growing numbers, one fifth of The Corner’s clientele are big-watch-sporting Eastern Europeans, he said.

Most major movie premieres in Germany now take place in Berlin, bringing with them a Red Carpet ethos and a more showy aesthetic.

“When I first moved to Berlin you had to dress down to go out; not anymore,” said Michalsky, who has two Berlin boutiques. “I was in Soho House last night, and the place was crammed with Hermès Birkins and Chanel bags worn with jeans and T-shirts.”

Both Voelk and Michalsky see luxury here becoming far more sustainable, with craftsmanship and timelessness its most important qualities, though with an individualist streak. Theirs is a boomtown, which weathered the recession far better than most.

From November to March the city’s sky may be battleship gray. But that’s when its other great luxury swings into action — the legendary club scene, centered around the former East Berlin district of Mitte. Unlike in New York or Paris, in Berlin it is extremely easy to gain access to the coolest clubs, provided you are blessed with a modest gift: the ability to speak English without a German accent. Luxury does come at a low price in Berlin.