Word: berlin
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...Germany's biggest dilemmas is how to cope with the economic consequences of an aging population. "You're going to face a problem in the social-security system, because you have fewer people paying in and more people taking money out," says Reiner Klingholz, director of the Berlin Institute for World Population and Global Development. Klingholz says the solution is to increase immigration. A new immigration law will allow some 200,000 immigrants--highly skilled economic migrants and asylum seekers--into the country each year...
Forget Paris and London. For the folks furthest out on fashion's cutting edge, Berlin is the new capital of creative inspiration. In the past few years, designers like Hedi Slimane of Christian Dior and labels like Hugo Boss have looked to the former East Berlin for inspiration, attracted by its edgy art and music scenes and fashion-forward street life. Slimane rented a studio there for three years while producing a glossy photography installation and a book about the city. Last fall Hugo Boss, which is based in Metzingen, in southern Germany, held its annual fashion show and party...
Creative types have long been drawn to Berlin because of low rents, ample studio space and the relatively low cost of living. The German capital's last cultural heyday was in the 1970s, when the likes of David Bowie and Iggy Pop lived in the then divided city. Now musicians, artists and designers from as far afield as Denmark and Japan are giving Berlin a young vibe again--nearly half of its 3.4 million residents are under 35. "Berlin is not a rich city, so the scene is not at all about money or society or status," says Slimane. "People...
...posters plastered around the city. Many retailers take out short leases, so their establishments come and go in a matter of months, while the locations of shops like Apartment and clubs like Fun are passed on by word of mouth. Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo was so inspired by Berlin's transient scene that she opened her own "guerrilla" Comme des Garcons store in East Berlin in February and plans to close it after a year...
...These are not touristy places," says Martin Wuttke, the creative visionary behind nextguruNow, a Berlin consulting firm. "If you want to attract the fashion crowd, you can't show off in everybody's face here." Berlin's understated cool looks set to keep the crowd coming back for more. --By Kate Betts