Tag Archives: Berlinale

Red Carpet – Henrik’s World of Glamour

It’s been a while since we last reported about our sinful little weekends maneuvers, but that’s just because we’re always working or drinking. Or both. It is our self proclaimed noble duty to visit the city’s flashiest red carpets and help empty the champagne stocks where we can. And all just for you! Promise. Here’s the hottest openings of the past months.

Bricole
Prenzlauerberg’s buggy-pushing-vegan-moms, rejoice! The district of soy milk frappucinos and sky-high rents now boasts its own distinctive gourmet temple. With Bricole, former Borchardt restaurant manager Fabian Fischer sets sail for new culinary horizons. The opening night revealed an atmospheric Hors ­d’œu­v­re-Bar with a tasty stronghold: wonderful bite-sized portions inspired Paris’ culinary delights, just without the stiffness. The only thing you won’t find at Bricole are main courses.

Interview Magazine Party
Ever since Andy Warhol founded INTERVIEW magazine in 1969, their parties put people’s livers to the test. Naturally our livers weren’t exactly thrilled when we received an invitation to the German spin off’s 5 year jubilee. But it’s hard to say no when the party takes place at Provocateur, Berlin’s brand new burlesque hotel. Red plush, international top DJs and a Russian oligarch as sponsor attracted celebs from Dr. Döpfner (CEO Springer) to TV icon Palina Rojinski.

Bulgari’s Night of the Legend Party
Befitting their reputation as an extravagant fashion label, guests of Bulgari’s Berlinale party were chauffeured in sleek brand-new Porsches. The party’s motto? “See and be seen”. The same as every fashion party’s. Ever. What most people don’t know: The A-list celebs just come for the red carpet. After that, they take off to the next paparazzi-loaded event and leave the party to the C-&D-list. Spotted on the carpet: Lottie Moss (Kate’s sister), Toni Garrn, Armie Hammer and Daniel Brühl.

GALA magazine Berlinale Party
Gala magazine loves gossip, but for celebrities it’s a love-hate relationship. On one hand they want privacy, on the other they crave attention. Gala’s grand Berlinale party definitely was a hotspot for attention seekers – the who-is-who of the film scene assembled to kick off this year’s Berlinale. Crowds of celebs shuffled down the red carpet, foremost Jean Paul Gaultier, who loves Berlin parties. In Paris, everyone’s too snobbish. Couldn’t agree more, Jean Paul. Now give us back our champagne glass.

RBB Xmas Special
It seems the word has gotten around that we’re a real door opener for nightlife reports. This time it was TV station RBB who asked us to show them how Berlin ticks when the sun goes down. We present: Berlin from 9pm to midnight.

Berlinagenten Luxury Award Party
We’re easily among the coolest lifestyle agencies in the milky way, so naturally we had to throw a big fat party to celebrate our award as “best culinary experience of the year” at Luxury Travel Guide. As true hedonists, we invited our partners to celebrate at sinful Sodom&Gomorra bar in Berlin-Mitte, where the nights are known to be just as long as dirty. The atmosphere was delightful until Henrik held his thank-you speech fuelled by no less than three moscow mules. After his speech, things went off the hook. Sword-swallowing Beautiful Jewels, pumping party classics and an everlasting supply of Berlin’s finest beverages assured the No. 1 Berlinagenten rule was enforced: no one goes home sober.

Eat Berlin @ Mampes neue Heimat
According to lifestyle magazine Traveller’s World, Eat Berlin ranks among the 10 best gourmet festivals in the world. Tickets to their selected events are in high demand, so we were lucky to be invited to one of the coolest events to date – Skykitchen’s away game at MAMPE’s neue Heimat. Star cook Alexander Koppe’s 5-course menu was the perfect match for three distinctive Mampe drinks – a revived Schnapps label that can only be bought at the manufactory in Berlin.

The Scene meets Berlin’s Wild West – Hotel Zoo

An elegant jade green carpet depicting fearsome leopards leads the way past the floating reception into the holy halls of the newly reopened Hotel Zoo in West Berlin. After finding our way inside we soon realized our wildest hopes would not come true: no playful tigers, no friendly lions, not even baby leopards to pet, except for the ones decorating the carpet. Shame. A friendly receptionist soon made us forget about the lack of baby leopards by enlightening us about the establishment’s remarkable history. 

First opened in 1911, it was designed by Alfred Messel, one of the most well-known German architects of his time. The hotel became a huge success in the roaring twenties and fortunately remained largely untouched by the mayhem World War II brought. It became the official VIP Hotel for the Berlinale from 1950 to 1970, drawing the rich and famous to its halls like no other hotel. Romy Schneider, Grace Kelly, Hildegard Knef and Sophia Loren were regulars to the hotel – to name just a few.

After the fall of the Wall in 1989 though, the memory of the hotel’s glamorous past slowly started to fade. Things needed to change if Hotel Zoo was still aiming to be an unique accomodation amongst the many luxurious Hotels Berlin has to offer. These pas   t two years, the building’s interior was stripped down to its core. American star designer Dayna Lee and her design studio Powerstrip Studios entered the jungle of reconstruction and gave the hotel a beautiful new look, inside and outside, bearing in the mind the hotel’s history. 

Upon entering the living room right next to the reception, we found ourselves in an airy lobby with custom made leather couches and armchairs, surrounded by large floor-level industrial windows and an open fireplace, creating a somewhat pretentious yet very cozy atmosphere. This atmosphere is gracefully captured throughout the hotel. Even though their 145 rooms are all different from each other in size and character, the underlying pleasant atmosphere will accompany you no matter where you’re headed. All in all Dayna Lee’s take on the interior design is pretty awesome: She managed to infuse the place with a modern touch, all the whilepaying respect to the hotel’s glamorous past. A true artist!

The Grace Bar and the Grace Restaurant were designed by the same makers that brought us the trendy Avenue Club, so expect great parties that are guaranteed to attract a hip crowd. BUT – the bar will has a strict door policy so dress up, folks! The restaurant opens in January and since the hotel’s opening party already felt insane, we’re really looking forward to this one! A little highlight on the side: When you use the elevator to get to the upper levels, you’ll find yourself confronted by a wall of paparrazis. They’re depicted on the elevator’s walls and will start flashing once you start driving upwards, just in case you never get to be on the red carpet yourself.

When leaving the hotel we noticed something funny… a huge door (at least 7 meters in height) with an even bigger door handle (at least anaconda sized) was waiting to be opened in the living room but… it wouldn’t. A loud RAAAWWWRRRR came from the other side. Either Henrik hasn’t been fed for a while or that’s where they keep their feline predators. Meow. For your next Berlin visit, you should definitely consider staying at this top notch hotel, it’s worth every purr!