BBB - One part Euro dance party, one part fashion schmoozefest, all parts serious business.

There was no giant ferris wheel at the Winter edition of Bread & Butter, the "tradeshow for selected brands", but the fair has accomplished the seemingly impossible and apparently grown in all other respects.

Bread & Butter is a complex beast; by all means a tradeshow where exhibitors flex and buyers flock to do brisk business, but it manages to be a great party, too. Cocktails flow, top DJs crank the tunes, and participants look like they're genuinely having a good time, which is saying a lot for a tradeshow.

The scene in the exhibition halls looked familiar. Once again, De Puta Madre 69 won the buzzy stand award (complete with fab drag stars dancing above the well-stocked bar), and G-Star created another meticulously choreographed show. Not everything was the same, though.

Besides the cosmetic changes and smoke and mirrors, BBB is making serious charges into the world of fashion. The BBBulletin has been launched as a proper magazine to establish an outlet to voice views and news. On the ground, BBBStudio has been added as a section to better accommodate independent designers; CSM grad Henrik Vibskov and rising local talent Cecilia Sörensen were among the invited, along with more established names such as Josep Abril and Mireya Ruiz.

So the BBB steamroller keeps up its frenetic pace. With the fashion award and kidswear in the pipeline and the tradeshow invading Berlin this week, it seems that if you're not part of BBB, you might just get left behind.

See the pictures from B&B Barcelona January 2006.

B&B Berlin takes place January 27-29, 2006