Berlin Fashion Week: Marc Cain’s New Direction

Everyone understands the vital importance of packing light for a getaway, and no one better than Marc Cain’s new artistic and design director Katja Konradi. For her freshman collection during Berlin Fashion Week, Konradi worked to the theme of train travel for autumn winter 19, conjuring up ideas of the perfect short haul wardrobe for every possible holiday scenario.

Business trips abroad were accounted for with slick suits - in scarlet with slit-front trousers - or jumper dresses and knitted dresses for evening. City breaks translated into sneakers and wet slick trousers with a blazer for day and sheer shirts and patterned trousers for night. Ski holidays, for Marc Cain, look like puffa jackets and 70s knitwear, with hiking boots and shearling.

‘Knit plays an essential role as this is the main theme and part of Marc Cain’s DNA,“ stated Konradi, in the press release. From attention-grabbing neon to zebra print and graphic patterns that take their cues from the Alpine slopes, it was the jumpers that told the colour and pattern story of the collection.

For AW19, the brand has enlisted Suits actress Sarah Rafferty to co-design a collection of handbags. Called the ‘True Bag’ it’s a sharp top-handle leather tote available in aubergine, almond and black and is in keeping with the personal style of Rafferty’s character, Donna Paulsen, in the show that made Meghan Markle famous.

With the backdrop of German’s main airports in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Dresden closed due to strikes on the day of the show, the nostalgia for genteel train travel evidently appeals. As does its prerequisite for an essential wardrobe, which, of course, includes a capacious tote like that designed by Rafferty. Consider Marc Cain the Marie Kondo of packing lists.

See: More Pictures From The Marc Cain AW19 Show