Laura Gerte

Meet The Designer:

8 September 2026

Meet The Designer:

Laura Gerte

8 September 2026

Q: You launched your brand in 2023, straight out of Weißensee. What did the first year actually look like?

A: A leap of faith straight into being self-employed. I started building the brand in my apartment - where it actually was until last month! I sold DTC via my online store, started to conceptualize another collection, did freelance design work, first custom looks and other projects. I also worked t towards the transition of working with seasons and a after year after graduating, started to prep for our first runway show during Berlin fashion week.

Q: Working with upcycled and deadstock textiles is slow, hands-on work. How did that become your material language rather than a constraint you work around?

A: I started upcycling during my masters, and it actually meant re-thinking the way I design completely, due to its limitations. I never found this to be a struggle, rather a challenge, which over the years has developed into a specific language that’s an integral pillar within the design process.

Q: Your last show "Lost to Virtue" closes out a three-collection arc about femininity and your own experience of womanhood. How do you personally define femininity, and does that definition show up differently in this collection than it did earlier in the trilogy?

A: It’s quite intimate for me actually, and through my work I can communicate these sides of myself to the world while simultaneously hiding behind it. (My) Femininity is something I’ve been become more aware and reflecting of while progressing through life.

"Each of the collections showed a different side of it, and the last one specifically was about breaking patterns, teaching, constraints and expectations - free, feral and amused."

Q: What's the most stressful part of preparing for fashion week, and how much lead time do you actually need to get a collection show-ready?

A: What I need and what I want are two different timelines - what I need is 3-4months, what I want is at least 6. The collectio is usually the least of my worries, because that’s the element I control myself. The most stressful part of preparing for fashion week - being everywhere all at once.

Q: Which designers have influenced and informed your vision the most?

A: My top three are Martin Margiela ( …obviously), Thierry Mugler & Jun Takahashi. Plus ever changing spots, currently Oliver Theyskens & Ann Demeulemeester.

Q: What's the hardest part of running an independent brand in Berlin at the moment, is it money, attention, production, something else?

A: I think the struggles are multi-faceted and differ from brand to brand. For me, it’s the transition from a one-woman-business, meaning handling everything from design to admin work by myself, to building a team while trying to stay sane and keep producing meaningful work.

Q: Which places in Berlin do you keep returning to?

A: After 13 years in Berlin, the whole city feels like a map of memories, stories and emotions - however I’m not a nostalgic person, so I rarely find myself actively returning to places - I rather revisit by chance.