Bringing Berlin’s summery Fashion Week to a glorious close, star designer Michael Michalsky upped the avant-garde ante with a dramatic show.

(In)famous for his exclusive events and a knack for extravagant entertainment, Michalsky continued his string of dedicated StyleNites, or “mini Fashion Weeks”, with a night at the circus – or rather, at Berlin’s spacious Tempodrom tent.

While the focus remains firmly on the clothes, the designer values proper showmanship and loves to add a dash of drama and music, performance and acrobatics to his presentation. This year, his designs were flanked by the runway shows of fellow label Maharishi and the Friedrichstadtpalast Revue’s upcoming show costumes as well as eclectic performances by opera star Nadja Michael and all-time electropop faves OMD. Unsurprisingly, this makes every StyleNite THE hot ticket in town – attracting a plethora of stars and starlets and more than a sprinkling of well-known fellow designers and celebrity reporters.

Yet after last year’s ostentatious Friedrichstadtpalast extravaganza, Michalsky decided to scale back the glitz and opt for a more refined approach. His vision: fashion again takes centre stage – to give guests a close look of the new designs.

Here, lead agency NEST one and flora&faunavisions won the pitch and proved the perfect fit with a unique, made-to-measure service for the Michalsky show and circus location. Never ones to shrink from a challenge, the team took charge of the event’s entire creative direction on a very tight deadline, devised the overall look and choreography, crafted the location’s interior design, created a dramatic lighting concept and directed the show from start to finish.

Their aesthetic premise, tailored to the location: as trends return and come full circle, so does fashion. To this end – and reflecting the tent’s unique circular architecture, ffv came up with a novel, round catwalk (17m in diameter) for the best possible distance between guests and models. Sleek, pure and pared-down, the set-up omitted anything that might distract the assembled luminaries from the real stars of the show – the new designs displayed on the catwalk.

The resulting runway was offset by a circular light object hovering above, crafted from 180 neon tubes. An ephemeral reflection of the catwalk below, it helped to define and focus the performance space without hiding the tent’s unique characteristics. For added focus, targeted motion tracking ensured that both spotlights and neon accents followed the models and thus helped to retrace the steps of fashion.

On the night, proceedings started with a bang (and plenty of dry ice) to welcome the first ever fashion show by London-based label Maharishi, followed by a brief performance by opera singer Nadja Michael who teamed up with Munich’s DJ Hell for a contemporary take on Medea.

Naturally, the undisputed star of the night was the main designer himself who added a touch of animal chic to his upcoming Spring/Summer collection 2011. For a hint of things to come, Michalsky followed his own designs with the world premiere of the upcoming Friedrichstadtpalast Revue YMA’s show collection, brimming with tribal elements and intense shades, also designed by Michalsky himself. And to cool off after this hot show, the party moved out to the small arena for plenty of dancing and – at the stroke of midnight – a rare PA by seminal UK electropop mavens OMD.

Photos © diephotodesigner.de for NEST one GmbH

Video © MICHALSKY