This season, William Fan celebrated his first decade. Ten years? Compared to many other designers from Berlin who have come and gone, this feels like almost a century. However, his collection for fall 2025 was not intended to be a reflection of his greatest hits. He prefers to quote himself every season by reissuing popular cuts and pieces with new materials and variations. “Alter Ego,” the title of his anniversary show, was a study of the extent to which fashion can be used to slip into different roles. “For me, it’s not about costuming, but rather the idea of how many multi-layered characters there are in people that make up the authentic self in the overall picture.”
To reinforce this idea, Fan invited not only models but also friends of the house, TV personalities, and actors to walk for him. Many of them wore big glamorous hair or theatrical makeup inspired by the Peking Opera, in order to build a visible bridge between Western and Asian culture, which Fan has repeatedly addressed throughout his career. The most ironic appropriation of a personality through fashion took place via a Vogue editor friend who, wearing XXL sunglasses and a black t-shirt with “Annabelle Bronstein” written on it, channeled Samantha Jones’s alter ego on Sex and The City. “What is theater and what is real? Personalities can be appropriated with costumes. Or, in Annabelle’s case, even enjoy privileges and all-area access—if only for a short time,” Fan said with a grin.
From a purely fashionable point of view, William Fan’s new collection is like his others, although perhaps a little more extravagant in terms of the materials. The common thread remains layering and volume, emphasized by ribbons, layers of different lengths, and voluptuous silhouettes. With the heavy styling, it was easy to miss the sequined gowns under wool coats, and get distracted by the many fringes and metal appliqués scattered across other toppers. However, calmness always followed. To give the eyes a short break from time to time, Fan kept his looks monochrome or in one color palette, which in turn drew attention to the literal and metaphorical complexity of the jacquards and beaded fabrics.
Fan is known in Berlin for always playing by his own rules and not blindly following trends. The continuity of his work is what keeps him thinking ahead. “My processes, my design process, everything feels like it did on the first day. Although… the budget has got a bit bigger,” he joked.
