Budapest – The fashion capital of the region

Budapest Central European Fashion Week was organised for the third time, with the support of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA). This year, the event was housed at the prestigous Castle Garden Bazaar between 29-13 March, 2019. At the event, 40 national and international designers showcased their Autumn-Winter 2019/20 collections for both the fashion industry and members of the public. During the 3-day event, many different types of programmes awaited those interested, and over 5.500 visitors visited the Castle Garden Bazaar over the weekend.

Besides the presentations, fashion shows and the Young Talents show, those interested were also able to buy pieces from the fashion collections on location, at the MOL Pop-up Store. International fashion industry insiders and several showroom representatives were also present at the fashion shows and viewed the collections of both Hungarian and international talents. Within the framework of the joint mentoring programme of the HFDA and Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the Italian mentors who helped prepare the selected designers and brands for Milan Fashion Week in February, also visited Budapest for the event.

Lindsey Schuyler and Tony Liu, Founders of Diet Prada; Declan Chan, Online Editor for Vogue Hong Kong; Kristen Bateman, Journalist for Dazed and Allure magazines; and Hannah Bibb, brand builder and stylist (formerly working for Barneys, New York) were also in attendance at the fashion shows.

Besides the collections of the 8 Hungarian designers of the mentoring programme, fashion shows were also held by other Hungarian and international brands present at the fashion week, including Neige (Poland), Laformela (The Czech Republic), and Marco Rambaldi (Italy). Prior to the fashion shows, the designers were given a helping hand from Giulio Martinello, Vogue Italia’s stylist, on how to select their pieces.

At the event, the joint strategic agreement between HFDA and Hiventures Venture Capital Fund Management was announced, with the aim of boosting the Hungaran fashion and design industry, and developing a domestic, value-focused fashion and design startup ecosystem, and providing common knowledge transfer between parties.

Further, during the fashion week, the results of the joint product design contest organised by MOL and the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency, named “Fresh Corner” were announced. Besides the employees of MOL and the HFDA, members of the jury were joined by Glamour Magazine’s Editor in Chief, Krisztina Maróy and Ildikó Simonovics, the Hungarian National Museum’s Chief Museologist. The professional jury deemed freshly graduated designer, Aranka Adelina Vass’s - elegant, playful and yet still suitable for everyday wear – capsule collection as the winning submission.

After the event, Zsófia Bata-Jakab, HFDA CEO stated: “We are immensely proud of the fact that there was such a high volume of interest surrounding the collections of Hungarian designers and the event. In addition, we managed to achieve the goals we set last year, as besides the shows, there there were many other fashion-related programmes in both Buda and Pest. However, there’s no stopping here, towards the end of April we will be representing Hungary with 13 designers at the Brera Design District.”

The continued success of Budapest Central European Fashion Week can also be seen through its strong social media presence. Various Hungarian and international influencers were invited by the HFDA to attend the event, and throughout the course of the weekend, up to 2.000 Instagram posts containing the #BCEFW hashtag were generated.

Further, as of 2019, one of the key issues in the fashion world, and even more so in the fashion industry, is the question of sustainability. Thanks to the collaboration between HFDA and the Blue Planet Climate Protection Foundation, this year not only the paper cups, but also the fashion maps containing the event programmes were all created from recycled paper. The aim of the agency and the foundation is to work on and create a comprehensive study regarding the sustainability of the Hungarian fashion industry in the framework of a long-term cooperation, of which elements are expected to be incorporated into the Autumn fashion week.

Videos from the event can be viewd via this link.

About the Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency

The Hungarian Fashion and Design Agency (HFDA) was founded in 2018 as a subsidiary of the Hungarian Tourism Agency, focusing on two main sectors, the industries of Fashion and Design. The main goal of the agency is to promote the Hungarian Fashion and Design Industry, and by doing so strengthening the country’s image. In addition, its most important tasks include increasing export, strengthening and developing domestic production,  and developing and safeguarding traditional creative and professional knowledge. As an integrative organisation, a main goal of the Agency is to achieve effective professional coordination between domestic and international players of the fashion and design field, which is essential for long-term success.