Now in its third season, the Karstadt New Generation Award at Berlin Fashion Week celebrates some of the most interesting young German designers. Part of the prize is the chance to design a range to be sold in Karstadt's German shops. The winners earlier this year, chosen by a panel including designers, journalists and curators, were Q.E.D, a menswear label which is already beginning to make waves in the UK.

For S/S 09, the first of three nominees is Esther Perbandt, who makes clothes with unusually personal feel: think prints with diary excerpts, the designer as her own muse, matched with plays on proportion and an interesting accessories sideline.

There's also Marcel Ostertag, a Central Saint Martins graduate who won best menswear prize in his year and was the first menswear designer to show at the V&A. With armour-like jackets and frilled trousers for A/W 08, and a dress made from keffiyeh scarves for S/S 08, his work leans towards the extreme and confrontational, with a few more wearable pieces also in the mix.

Thirdly, there's conceptual duo Boessert Schorn. Their work has progressed each season from dresses inspired by watering cans and forks and clothes bleached by the sun into a collection of intricately-layered sports-inspired womenswear in dark colours and arch, oversized shapes. Finally, there's casual label Blutsgeschwister, who produce some interesting accessories and mens- and womenswear with fantastical imagery.

Other highlights to look forward to at Berlin Fashion Week, taking place from July 17 to 20, include presentations by c.neoon, Basso & Brooke and Vivienne Westwood Anglomania.