Next Generation – Fashion Talent Award opened this season’s Mercedes-Benz Bucharest Fashion Week (MBBFW) with a fresh, young, and fashion fertile group of promising students that make up the new frontier. At this opening show, a hopeful and original burst of creativity defined Romania’s capital as the most interesting fashion week around.
Developed as an educational and creative ecosystem, the Next Generation project has seen 10 finalists work on a collection of three looks each, accompanied by Massimiliano Giornetti, Director of Polimoda, as mentor and guide.
With their eyes on the prize of an international educational experience, the finalists were more than ready to open Europe’s most compelling fashion week: the backstage area was buzzing with activity, dedication, and determination for these collections to succeed not only in representing the best that Romanian fashion and design universities, The National University of Arts Bucharest (UNArte) and the University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca (UAD), had to offer via their students but also to do justice to the theme, Cultural Heritage in Fashion: A Bridge Between Tradition and Innovation.
Students interpreted the theme, incorporating elements from Romanian folk art, sourcing local craftsmanship and materials, and interweaving them with cultural narratives, while also focussing on innovation and reinvention through experimentation with form, shape and diverse compositions, and turning pre-loved pieces from Auchan Romania’s “A New Life” project into bold, conscious creations.
Whether it was the 3D reinterpretation of traditional macrame patterns by winner Mara Popa, the smooth shapes and exquisitely soft tones of Genghiz Beghim’s collection, the richly textured and layered knitwear by Melisa Savu, Bogdan Bodros’ earthy tinctured sweeping shoulder piece, Ioana-Andreea Dodoloi’s contrast between voluptuous dramatic shapes, ornate lace and embroidery detail, or Roxana Tudor’s playful reinterpretation of traditional Romanian shapes and adornments, the collections made for an astonishing representation of what this group of young talent has to offer the industry.
Sustainability was an essential part for all finalists’ collections: Bogdon Bodros’ collection exemplified this through his use of recycled denim. His collection focused on the Romanian tradition of the Dance of the Bear where, in the winter, people dress as bears to ward off evil spirits. Instead of using fur, he turned to flea markets and friends, buying old jeans for 1 euro or collecting them from his peers, dyeing and redyeing them, to create the stratified textures to be found in his collection.
The show came to an end with winner Mara Popa being announced by Massimiliano Giornetti. Her collection is inspired by the Romanian macrame also known as Romanian point lace that her grandmother practised, aiming to reposition and revalorize this craft within the contemporary fashion landscape by juxtaposing it with what she calls “wearable art”. She drew these macramé designs onto black tailored silhouettes with a 3D pen, her goal being to imprint both symbolically and physically the memory of Romanian point lace onto her garments. The sculptural forms of the garments were an important element for her to develop die the power they give to her collection, creating a contrast with the sensitive motif of the macrame. “I didn’t just want to make a collection representing that nostalgic period of time, I wanted it to be modern and contemporary”, she said.
Often the discourse around fashion weeks and the industry as a whole can feel stale and repetitive. On the contrary, these emerging designers have put a spring back into fashion’s step. The potential and new energy of Bucharest is palpable: these student designers tell their stories with maturity and a perspective that is capable of transporting us into another dimension, experience, and time. In its third edition, MBBFW is becoming the shining light we are slowly but surely moving towards.
CREDITS
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- Finale of Next Generation – Fashion Talent Award, with winner Mara Popa. Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Bucharest Fashion Week (MBBFW).
