Weekend of Design and Fashion

A Weekend of Design and Fashion is taking place in the East Slovakia Gallery within the ECOC 2013 Opening Ceremony. Here, space was given to students of Faculties of Arts and budding fashion designers as well as collections from renowned brand names such as Novestashoes and the experienced Izabela Komjati.

On Saturday, a lot of visitors came to look at several fashion shows and designers’ exhibitions. For one hour in the afternoon, the East Slovakia Gallery was dominated by the fashion collections from students at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design – Atelier of Fashion Design, namely Maja Božovič, Lena Rypáková and Petra Solivarská. The collections mainly included dark and earth colours and alternations to already-designed pieces, and each student made their own mark. The audience was mainly attracted to the dynamics of the show. “Considering that this is a fashion show of student’s work, I must say that in my opinion the level was very high,” said Ivana (30), a member of the audience.

Designer Michaela Bednárová with the brand Puojd, and the well known Novesta shoe collection were listed in the programme after 3.00pm. Michaela Debnárová: “We had the opportunity to see the Krava collection enhanced by new elements including comfortable and, at the same time, amusing pieces of clothing made from natural materials.” The designer, from Kežmarok, likes to wear her own clothes and asshe said,she really fell in love with Košice.

Novesta is a world renowned designer shoe brand whose show was – apart from shoes – interesting in that the models presented them wearing just underwear. Student and model Zuzana (22): “The show went really well even despite the cold since they looked after us well backstage.”

The public’s greatest interest was mainly drawn by the fashion show by Izabela Komjati, who has been working in design for ten years. The models of her brand are very original and some may also be seen in the Galéria shopping centre where she has her own showroom. “I would like to have some of these clothes in my wardrobe very much,” said Ivana (35), audience member.

Renowned Slovak designers who showed at the Weekend of Design and Fashion include Sewogylab and Vlasta Žáková. Names such as Lenka Sršňová, Veronika Kostková and Slávka Toscherová are still firmly established in the Slovak fashion elite. Many from the audience also came to see their show in the evening. “I was looking forward to this event and I wasn’t disappointed,” said Iveta (36). The age diversity of the audience was very wide and the fashionshows were watched not by ladies but also by gentlemen – from students to pensioners. Theshowrooms which had been open since the morning also attracted the audience’s attention.