For Belarus Fashion Week, September began with a new project - New Names BFW, a competition for young designers.
On September 3, its first stage took place - the qualifying round. That is why people who gathered at the National School of Beauty on Saturday morning could easily be divided into three categories: those who already mean a lot in Belarusian fashion, those who want to mean a lot in Belarusian fashion, and those who want to write about all this.
The jury of the competition, consisting of 7 people from different fields of fashion activity, was looking forward to the start of the competition. Before the start of the qualifying round, a famous Belarusian designer Ivan Aiplatov turned to future colleagues, as he called the contestants, with a parting word: “Diligence is the main guarantee of success! Only fanatics remain in our profession - never deviate from your goal! "
In turn Yuri Budko, the head of the festival of contemporary art and avant-garde fashion "Mammoth", wished the contestants that "the jury said wow more often!" when considering sketches.
So, the competition has started! 10 participating designers showed their sketches to the jury. Everyone tried to convince the professionals that he was worthy of the main prize: to create an industrial collection for the enterprise. "ARISHKA" - one of the leaders in the production of knitwear in the Belarusian market.
In his comments, the head of the marketing department of TM "Arishka" Elena Vladimirovna Boyko noted: “Our company has always been interested in the creativity of young people, their ideas and innovations. We are not afraid of experiments, we are not afraid to take risks, and we are ready to accept the best of young designers - the winner of the competition - into our team. The product of our joint creation will be sold across the country with the name of the designer himself on the label. I think this is a great opportunity to make a name for yourself in the fashion world! " To the question “what do you expect from young designers - participants of the competition”, Elena Vladimirovna replied that “first of all, we are waiting for ideas that can be really implemented on an industrial scale. I also want to know if the designers understand all the intricacies of working with knitwear. " Finally, the representative of TM "Arishka" wished all the contestants good luck.
All the participants were so different: someone was still a student, someone was already a designer of the enterprise … Each has its own zest, sparkle in the eyes and original ideas.
Therefore, the pleasantly surprised jury decided to discard all conventions and made a decision: everyone goes to the next stage!
Here they are, the names of the lucky ones who will try their hand at the second stage of the New Names BFW competition on October 9, 2011:
1. Tsodov Egor
2. Voronovich Anastasia
3. Deikun Marina
4. Shikun Natalia
5.design duet Shchelokova Elena and Puzina Ekaterina
6. Litvinchuk Olga
7. Gershenyuk Tatiana
8. Levitskaya Yana
9. Shikova Daria
Very soon the second stage of the competition will take place - a preliminary display of five looks from each designer and advice from a competent jury on improving the collections. Including from real masters who stood at the very origins of such a phenomenon as “Belarusian fashion”. One of these "masters" is Galina Yakovlevna Meshkova - Associate professor of BGAI, candidate of art history.
- You are known in Belarus as a fashion historian, it is you who are at the origin of the development of modern Belarusian fashion. Do you think today's young designers are guided by the experience of Fashion Masters? Do they use the "basics" in their work?
- While teaching at the Academy of Arts, I come across young designers almost every day. We build the training program for our students in such a way that they gradually enter the world of fashion: they studied the history of folk costumes, including Belarusian, the history of fashion development in general … And watching their growth, I can note that recently young designers more and more often refer to classical forms, to national elements in costume,they present preexisting forms in a completely unusual perspective.
Also, a new chapter of the "Fashion Mill" competition was included in the jury of the competition. Elena Zapyokinawho happily commented on the organization and progress of the project New Names BFW.
- Young designers participate in the New Names BFW competition, as well as in your "Fashion Mill" project. Do you feel the competition?
- My main goal is to help talented young people, no matter what project it will take place within. Today, in our country, there is a rather limited number of competitions for novice designers: for example, the Fashion Mill is held only once a year. It turns out that the rest of the time the designer works "on the table", but for a creative person this is not acceptable. Therefore, it is thanks to contests like New Names BFW that designers will be able to try their hand, find new sources of inspiration, meet their colleagues, hear professional advice from experienced craftsmen, who will point out mistakes and advise how to develop further. The main thing is not to be afraid to test yourself, because you can only learn from your own mistakes!
And I don't feel any competition between the Fashion Mill and New Names BFW contests. Here, rather, partnership: I gladly responded to the invitation of Yanina Goncharova to join the jury of the competition. In return, we also look forward to working with BFW and the Mill of Fashion.
Assessing the results of the first stage of the competition, the head of the BFW Yanina Goncharova, noted: “Initially, the idea of the project emerged as a logical continuation of a larger project Belarus Fashion Week … Since in our activities we focus on Western professionals - New York Fashion Week, London Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week - then, just like there, our Fashion Week is gradually expanding and filled with new "branches". I'm sure the competition New Names BFW a great future, because already at the moment we have proposals from Belarusian enterprises to provide an internship for the next season of the competition. In any case, this is the first time we are carrying out such a project and we sincerely hope for success!"
The New Names BFW Final will take place on October 24th! We are waiting for you all!
Photo: Pavel Tereshkovets
Belarusian men's magazine MENSBY. COM
