überlin

We’re feeling a little emotional – this is the end of our Berlin Fashion Week journey with the über-talented Hien Le. Have a peek behind the scenes at his final catwalk show below, and skip over to NPR’s Berlin Stories to read our article and see more pics. We’d like to thank Hien Le and Agency V for the access and accreditation, stylist Sarah Plunkett for her extra words, expertise and energy, and Giselle and Anna at NPR for giving us a platform. *bows, accepts bouquet*

NPR have published the second part of our story about local designer Hien Le’s Berlin Fashion Week experience. But before you skip over to the Berlin Stories website to read it, here are some exclusive behind the scenes shots of Hien preparing for the final of the Start Your Own Fashion Business contest:

Venezuelan transgender diva Aérea Negrot first appeared as a guest vocalist on Hercules and the Love Affair’s last album, Blue Songs, before finding her home at Berlin’s bpitch control. Her incorporation of abstract vocals into hypnotic minimal owes much to label head Ellen Allien and sometime collaborator Miss Kittin, but Negrot has an identity all of her own, musically, visually, and, well, sexually. Gender politics are not our forté, but it’s pretty obvious what she’s referring to 11 minutes into the below live set (recorded at Watergate) when she starts chanting, “This is not the wrong body”.

Debut album Arabxilla (out on September 19th) folds techno, abstract electronica, piano house and opera into a heady, hedonistic mix – think Nôze meets Grace Jones in a Berghain bathroom. Our highlight is a German-language lounge song called “Berlin”, which we can’t wait to drop into a self-indulgent themed DJ set, but for now you’ll have to settle for an exclusive track, “Love You From The Brain”, streaming at the bottom of this post.

“Love You From The Brain” (click through to download):

This article originally appeared on Bang Bang Berlin.

Oh SNAP Foodie in Berlin! You just beat us to a post about Kadó Lakritzfachgeschäft on Graefestrasse. But what we lack in timeliness, we can more than make up for enthusiasm, because I am *mad* for liquorice! And it turns out our Kiez is a veritable Lakritz lover’s paradise, what with the ice cream shop next door selling Eis flavoured with the black stuff, and with Kadó just around the corner. We too were surprised a) to find a shop dedicated to products with a decidedly acquired taste, and b) to find it packed. But whether you like liquorice or not, you’ll enjoy this charming little store, its endless variations on a surprisingly adaptable ingredient (sweet, salty, spicy; in and around chocolate; as a spirit, etc.) and the infectious enthusiasm of its knowledgeable staff. Check out Foodie’s take, then the store itself – just bring me a bag back of something pitch-black.

So you may have noticed that pictures of James and I rarely pop up on überlin. James hates his picture being taken (I dont know why with a mug like his!?) and I guess I love working behind the camera too much to waste time being in front of it. But recently I’ve had a few requests (OK one!) to show more outfit posts, so in a bid to get me out of my usual freelancers outfit of grubby jogging bottoms and toothpaste splattered t-shirts here goes nothing. Work it girlfriend!

Jacket: Zara | T-Shirt: COS | Jeans: Just Female | Boots: COS | Necklace: H&M | Bracelets: Alexander McQueen, Follie Follie | Rings: ASOS

During Berlin Fashion Week we followed local designer Hien Le as he prepared for his catwalk show and the final of the Start Your Own Fashion Business competition. Our three-part story for NPR starts in Hien’s Kreuzberg studio, where he explains how he incorporates influences from his birthplace of Laos into the “really clean, simple and minimalistic” aesthetic that already caught the attention of industry insiders at last year’s Fashion Week. Read part one of our article over on NPR’s Berlin Stories, and scroll down to see more behind-the-scenes photos. Part two coming soon!

Jahcoozi are back! And this weekend they’re making a cape out of donated dreadlocks. No, really. Not sure what the cause is, but we’ll support anything that removes dreads from the heads of the crusties that stank up our city. You should check out the installation/concert/commemoration(?) of the erection of the Berlin Wall this Saturday, but for now we’re going to revisit the track that made us fall in love with the Berlin-based booty-bass bpitch act in the first place.

I don’t need to brag about the East End
Got the best of both worlds innit in the end.
Why’s everybody’s chatting bout the LDN?
When we know what’s going off in the BLN

Barefoot Skank presents:
RESURRECTING THE DREAD
13.08.2011 / Radialsystem / Berlin
Line-up:
Jahcoozi (Konzert + Special Performance) // BPitch Control // Berlin
Robot Koch (live) // Project: Mooncircle // Berlin
Graciela Maria & Sneaky (live) // Project: Mooncircle // Mexico City, Manchester
Half-Sick Half-Girl // Sick Girls // Berlin
Ghettozoid (dj) // One4Ho // London
DJ Zhao (dj) // Ngomasound // Bejing
Area Boy (dj) // Barefoot Skank // Moskau
+ tbc

This article originally appeared on Bang Bang Berlin.