After three days of fashion shows at the Novi Sad Fair, the program of the 19th Serbia Fashion Week continued in the SKCNS Fabrika. The last two days of the Serbia Fashion Week were marked by seminars, exhibitions and fashion shows of the finalists of the European Fashion Talent Design Competition, the National Fashion Talent Design Competition and the Ecolution Competition. However, what will be remembered for the closing of the 19th Serbia Fashion Week is something that can be called a historic act when it comes to European fashion. Namely, an initiative was signed to launch a new capital project – the European Capital of Culture. In the presence of the President of the European Fashion Council, Nadja Valeva, the heads of the national fashion chambers from Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, signed this document, which will go to the address of leading European officials and institutions.
“Apart from the initiative for launching the European Capital of Fashion project, we are initiating two other important things with this document. Namely, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania are in favor of establishing Balkan Fashion Week and awarding prizes, a project aimed at faster development of the Western Balkans. Also, with this, the initiative for the establishment of the European Fashion Week was officially launched, which would represent the same for the fashion industry as the Eurovision Song Contest represents for music. Iofficial letters will be sent soon to the French president and prime minister, Emanuel Macron and Jean Castex, because France now holds the presidency of the European Union.The letter will also be sent to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission , Ursula von der Layen, as well as to several other addresses in Brussels.
“On behalf of all 28 members of the European Fashion Council, I would like to thank the hosts for everything. We are also grateful to the Mayor of Novi Sad, Miloš Vučević. We will see each other again in Novi Sad “, said the president of the European Fashion Council, Nadja Valeva.
The president of Serbia Fashion Week, Svetlana Horvat, first pointed out that she was proud to be from Novi Sad, which this year the European Capital of Culture, initiative has been launched for a new European project.
“We hope that this initiative will be realized and that we will talk one day that this great project – the European Capital of Fashion, has just started from Novi Sad and Serbia, with the initiative and signatures of the European Fashion Council member states,” said Svetlana Horvat.
Ten finalists from each of the three competitions, the European Fashion Talent Design Competition, the National Fashion Talent Design Competition and the Ecolution Competition, presented their collections at fantastic shows in SKCNS Fabrika.
The winner of each of these three competitions is decided by a jury consisting of: President of Serbia Fashion Week and Parade a Paris Svetlana Horvat, former CEO of Jean-Paul Gaultier Haute Couture House Donald Potard, President of FNL Network and CEO of International Digital Fashion Week Rocco Leo Gaglioti, French haute couture designer Emeric Francois and Mad Mood Milan Fashion Week president Marianna Miceli.
The winner of the National Fashion Talent Design Competition will get a fashion show at Serbia Fashion Week Middle East in Dubai, and the winner of the Ecolution Competition will get a fashion show at Mad Mood Milano Fashion Week. The names of the winners will be announced by the jury next week.
The president of Serbia Fashion Week, Svetlana Horvat, expressed great satisfaction because we had the opportunity to see fashion shows of the finalists.
“We have seen the best from academies and faculties all over Europe. We saw how imaginative and talented these young people are. The fact that they were able to show their collections with a serious production of the festival, as well as the media support and attention. It means a lot to them. I am very happy because Serbia Fashion Week enables young students to present their collection from year to year, “said Svetlana Horvat.
Since its founding, Serbia Fashion Week has been paying special attention to seminar activities, so it was the same this time. The Young Lions in the Jungle seminar talked about how much fashion marketing has changed in the digital era, what good digital marketing means today, what cooperation with influencers brings, what direct marketing, a classic fashion campaign, or a well-designed and realized fashion event. Serbian and foreign marketing experts and fashion experts presented their opinion on this and numerous other topics.
At the Fashion and Metaverse seminar, we had the opportunity to hear some kind of guide for designers, artists and creative thinkers to future prosperity, the speakers were Professor Marcellous L Jones, President of the European Consortium for Emerging Fashion and Professor at the Pantheon- Sobranne University.
The seminar Sustainable Fashion: Tomorrow Starts Today provided answers to many questions about one of the main directions that the fashion industry has imposed on its journey through the new millennium.
In addition to numerous creatives from different segments of the fashion industry, these online seminars were followed by professors and students of the Academy of Arts in London, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, as well as faculties from all countries from which the finalists of these three competitions came.
The spring edition of Serbia Fashion Week, the only one licensed fashion week in Serbia, closed in the best possible way, with 30 fantastic shows by young designers, several quality seminars and official information that the 19th edition of our national week was followed by a record number of accredited foreign media.
Photo credit: Nenad Karlic, Milan Milojic, Srdjan Aleksic