Michael Sontag has proved once again that he has what it takes to become a serious designer label coveted outside the limits of the Berlin S-Bahn ring. OK, so it doesn’t hurt that Vogue Germany editor in chief Christiane Arp took him under her wing, but the attention is well deserved. Sontag sent a strong collection down the runway that took what he does best – very feminine cuts that don’t make you look like Jessica Rabbit – to the next level. Understatement in general is Sontag’s specialty, so that even when he uses the season’s colour, a pastel mint green, it is just a tad paler, making the statement looks more low-key. That is not to say that wearing Sontag is for wallflowers; his rendering of contours with extra material is sure to draw attention. The show’s highlight, a wide charcoal overcoat in rich natural silk, showed that Sontag can even rework a plump hourglass shape, often shunned by avant-garde designers, to look less femme fatal and très modern.