The music drones on with a kind of weightiness, the cameras flash in the imposing hall, one model after another struts down the runway which is lined with rows of chairs while thousands of guests become intoxicated by the colorful scenery. No question about it: Here in the Düsseldorf Nachtresidenz, one of the most ‘in’ locations in Germany, fashion-theater is written in big letters – or more to the point, the German Fashion Design Award, a competition for young, up-and-coming designers who only have one goal in mind: the conquest of international runways.

Here’s where the fashionistas already get a taste of just how hard that really is. Of the 150 candidates, mostly fashion students, only twelve can qualify for the important finale. The jury: a hand-picked group of design experts including Maria Kretschmer, Kilian Kerner and make-up-artist Boris Entrup, who is also the star visagist of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin. The winner can look forward to prizes valued at around 100,000 euros.

The competition itself is as youthful as the participants, more or less a ‘baby’ among fashion awards – three years ago launched by Inna and Harald Thomas, the founders of the famous Fashion Design Institute in Düsseldorf. The requirements are of course in line with international standards: “We not only expect imaginative fashion sketches, but also a completely thought-through presentation including lighting concept and music” A lot is demanded of the Lagerfelds and Westwoods of tomorrow. In February 2011, the festival of exquisite taste enters its fourth round. And it just may come to pass that a major new German fashion career will be born, right here in the Nachtresidenz.