Some cities tell you who to be. Others leave the question open, and let you answer it yourself.

Berlin does not try to be beautiful, the beauty is unsentimental. It is raw brick and cold light, courtyards and buildings still carrying their old scars. Half the people you pass came from somewhere else, and nobody asks which somewhere. Nobody tells you how to stand. There is no single way to look here, so there is no wrong way. Yumiko has lived in this city for years and every design begins in her atelier.

The drawings go south to the hills of Andalusia, made by the same hands, in the same light, and come back here to meet the dancers who will wear them. You come in, you try one against your own body, you find the line that is yours. Of all cities, Berlin is the least likely to disagree.