A touch of Fashion Week is now blowing through Frankfurt. While the major trade fair and runway events of Frankfurt Fashion Week will not take place in January as planned, but are now scheduled to take place in the summer, a place in Frankfurt is already transforming into a very special fashion venue for the coming weeks: the B-level of Frankfurt's Hauptwache! Until February 10, 71 photographs on the theme of fashion will be on display here on a total of 35 pillars. Thus the not exactly attractive place becomes the "RUNWAY B(eautiful)-Ebene"! Responsible for this are AAAREA GmbH - an association of eleven creative agencies in Frankfurt -, the Berufsverbands Freie Fotografen und Filmgestalter e. V. (BFF) and Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main mbH (VGF).
The open exhibition is part of AAAREA, the festival for Frankfurt Fashion Week. With it, the fashion event should be carried into the city and bring the Fashion Week to the people. At this central location it succeeds very well, because through the photos one of the central junctions of Frankfurt is transformed into a big catwalk for a whole month. On display are works by 25 international photographers, including from Frankfurt Gerhilde Skoberne, Oana Szekely, Jens Ihnke and Marc Trautmann. Also Sabine von Bassewitz and Asja Caspari from Hamburg or Michelle Marshall from London are represented with works.
Mayor Peter Feldmann sees the exhibition as a positive signal for the summer: "Then the long-awaited large runways and events will transform the entire city into a unique catwalk," said the city leader at an event one day before the official opening.
Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies at Messe Frankfurt, added: "Due to the pandemic, the Frankfurt premieres of the major international fashion fairs have been postponed until July. All the more we are looking forward to numerous city promotions on the occasion of Frankfurt Fashion Week - first and foremost to the inspiring events within the framework of AAAREA. This will also make Frankfurt Fashion Week accessible to everyone interested in fashion in the Rhine/Main region and beyond."
The images now on display at B-Ebene were selected in advance by a jury from more than 555 images. "With this exhibition, the B level partially becomes the Beautiful level. It is the 'foyer' of Frankfurt's city center, the access to fashion, whether in Goethestrasse, on the Zeil or in the many side streets. We are delighted about this kick-off as an accompanying program to Frankfurt Fashion Week," says Stefan Weil, one of the shareholders of AAAREA GmbH.
The works bring fashion into connection with current themes such as diversity, nature or urbanity; they show strong personalities as well as playfully poetic moments. They invite visitors to look at the world from a different perspective on their way to the subway or commuter train and to be inspired. On the first day, it was possible to observe that this was also very well received and that this unusual exhibition concept works. "For the photographers who exhibit here, the location is just as unusual as it is for the exhibition visitors," notes BFF board spokeswoman Alexandra Lechner. "For all those involved, it is a great honor to be able to show their work in such a central location." For photographer Marc Trautmann from Frankfurt, "AAAREA is a great opportunity to present one's own art to a large public in an unusual setting. The makers and creators have really come up with something great here. The exhibition completely fulfills the festival's claim to bring fashion to life in the city."
So if you're out and about in the city center in the next few weeks, you should take the opportunity to go to the "RUNWAY B(eautiful)-level" yourself and admire the fashion photographs. For more info on this and other AAAREA events, visit: https://aaarea.com/de/
