A recap of this year's last Fashion Flash V.

The last part of this year's Fashion Flash series organised by the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency was held on the 27th of November, titled "The Role Of Fashion In Society". The season-closing roundtable discussion of the HFDA Academy was a worthy closing of the event that reflected on issues concerning a wide audience in 2019, including topics such as sustainability, new technologies, and for example, the path to building relationships between
professions and industries.

The event was held in two parts, with the following invited industry insiders: Ildikó Simonovics, fashion historian and museologist; Emese Dobos, fashion journalist; Marge,singer-songwriter; and moderator Réka Szentesi (and also a social historian and fashion researcher), together discussed fashion, itʼs role in society, body and beauty ideals, and the relationship between fashion and clothing, and its usage as a tool in communication.

The discussions also mentioned changes regarding the ideal female and male body types, feminism, cultural appropriation, changing habits, and the relationship between fashion and climate change.

Throughout the discussions, the invited experts agreed that in addition to our personality, our immediate environment and social media also play a role in determining how we are approach fashion, how we dress and what our body image reference points are.

Another interesting topic was cultural appropriation, the way trends start and their effect on communities. Besides trend agencies, nowadays social media also dictates fashion trends, and from just one posted photo, the rapidly paced, fast-fashion brands can already discover what counts as popular, and can shift their production to match. Regarding cultural appropriation, a lot of pressure has been placed on designers to launch as many products as they can, and because of this they have less time to spend on inspiration, and therefore search the web for ideas. Due of this, their sources are not always credible and often they become entangled in offensive, racist scandals which can then lead to outrage in communities. Of course, these situations are not always black and white, and at times theft is shouted too soon, before what really happened can be seen. These cases are also often picked up by the public. We live in a global world, where manufacturing and markets operate globally, but even so, unfortunately there are many cases where brands donʼt give respect to certain ethnic groups, cultures and countries.

One of the main aims of the free of charge forum is to showcase the power of fashion and
communication in the 21st century, through bringing professionals into the discussion regarding the exciting world of fashion. The organisers of the event are hoping to carry on
with the series in the new year - but with a slightly new format - for Fashion Flash to bring even more fresh, exciting topics to the roundtable discussions.

The main topics of the roundtable discussion:
Part One:
• What does the term fashion cover? What do we mean by, and how can we define the term fashion? What does fashion mean to you?
• What role does fashion have in society? Has this role changed throughout the years?
• Fashion products as status symbols, individual and social representation. Identity and fashion, identity and values in this day and age.
• The relationship between the dressed body, the ideal body image, and beauty ideals and fashion. The effects the body and clothing have on eachother.
• Clothing and fashion as a communication tool (communication of the individual, a social phenomenon or social group; self-expression; clothing systems)
• The relationship between consumer society and fashion. Unique products vs. mass production.
Part Two:
• Gender identity, gender theories, gender neutrality and fashion, the various unisex trends at different brands. Changes in the ideal female and male body types.
• Feminism, women power and fashion. Maria Grazia Churi's feminist work through fashion. Is Feminism a fashion trend?
• The interaction of subcultures and fashion
• The impact of social groups on fashion (e.g. tribal motifs, folk art elements, cultural appropriation and related scandals, Gucci, Dior, Carolina Herrera)
• Climate change and fashion, Vivienne Westwood and the fight against global warming
• Shopping trends in fashion
• The differences between the shopping habits of men and women

Speakers, Fashion Flash Talk:
Ildikó Simonovics – Fashion Historian, Museologist
Emese Dobos – Fashion Journalist
Marge – Singer, Songwriter
Moderator:
Réka Szentesi – Social Historian, Fashion Researcher - ELTE / Mod'Art
Expected date of the HFDA Academy Fashion Flash event: February 2020

Please view the gallery for photos taken at the event: https://hfda.hu/hu/divat-galeria/129