When stars walk the red carpet at the Berlin International Film Festival, the image is different from that in Cannes or Venice. Less posing, less operatic flair, fewer calculated couture moments. Berlin shines – but in a more subdued way. Almost as if restraint were part of the concept.
Compared to the Cannes Film Festival with its strict dress codes and sweeping gowns, or the aristocratic elegance of the Venice Film Festival, the Berlinale often seems more urban, more intellectual, more accessible. Black suits dominate, with clean silhouettes and little excess. Even international guests adapt to this aesthetic surprisingly quickly.
But is this really anti-glamour – or just a different form of glamour?
Historically, the Berlinale has always been more political than its southern European counterparts. This attitude is also reflected in fashion. Here, clothing serves less as spectacle and more as an extension of an attitude. Oversized cuts, reduced color palettes, gender-fluid suits, sustainable fabrics, the look is often more conscious than eye-catching.
While haute couture is considered a competition in itself in Cannes, Berlin seems to value individuality more highly than staging. Vintage elements mix with high fashion, young designers with established labels. The result is not a visual fireworks display, but a stylistic discourse.
And yet, the Berlinale is no longer an improvised indie gathering. With partners such as Armani Beauty, professional beauty staging has also become visible here. Makeup artists, defined looks, curated styling teams, the industrial perfection of the international festival circus has arrived.
But even this luxury has a different effect in Berlin. Instead of maximum dramatization, natural complexions, structured elegance, and subtle accents dominate. It's less “red carpet fantasy” and more “refined realism.” Glamour is not negated, but recalibrated.
One striking difference from other festivals is the visible emphasis on sustainability. Reused gowns, transparent designer statements, conscious material choices, aspects that often remain PR strategies elsewhere seem more credibly anchored in Berlin. In a city that stands for subculture, activism and discourse, excessive opulence would be almost irritating.
Here, fashion is less a demonstration of power than a means of contextualization. Those who appear on the Berlin red carpet seem to know that their attitude will be read. Even luxury brands are adapting to this code.
Berlin is not a backdrop like the Croisette in Cannes. It lacks the romantic lagoons of Venice. The city is rougher, more fragmented, more political. This environment also shapes the image of the festival. Between Potsdamer Platz, the Berlinale Palast and arthouse cinemas, there is no hermetically sealed glamour zone, but rather an open structure. Audiences and stars share the streets.
Perhaps it is precisely this permeability that makes the difference. Glamour is not staged to create distance, but to be part of a cultural dialogue. Berlin remains a festival for the public – and that changes the aesthetic.
The anti-glamour theory persists. But on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the Berlinale does shine – just in a different way. Less fairy tale, more modernity. Less pomp, more personality. Less couture as a status symbol, more style as an expression.
At a time when festivals are increasingly interpreted politically, this aesthetic could even be strategic. Those who exercise visual restraint avoid accusations of escapism. Instead, an image of seriousness and cultural substance emerges. And yet the ambivalence remains: sponsors are present in Berlin too, cameras are omnipresent and international PR machines are active. The difference lies not in the absence of glamour, but in its interpretation. The Berlinale proves that charisma does not necessarily have to be loud. Between minimalist silhouettes and subtle beauty statements, a unique design language emerges, one that is less dazzling but has a longer lasting effect.
Anti-glamour by design? Perhaps.
Or simply: Berlin remains Berlin.
