Romanian fashion designers strut their stuff at Berlin Fashion Week

Romania was present for the second time at the international fashion fair, Berlin Fashion Week, between January 16 and 21. The costs of bringing Romanian designers to Berlin were covered by a state budget subsidy as part of the National Export Strategy, an initiative to promote Romania’s exports in the areas of design and manufacturing.

Within the three sections of the fair, known as Premium Messe, Bright, and Seek by Premium, twelve Romanian companies exhibited under the brand names: Irina Schrotter, Carla Szabo, Lena Criveanu, Sepala by Mihaela Glavan, Lucian Broscatean List.05, Twenty (2) too, Ligia’s Accessories, Otilia Flonta, Bold Fashion, Patzaikin, DA BONTON and Zash. The Romanian pavilion was organized with the support of the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Business Environment, the Romanian Center for the Promotion of Trade and Foreign Investments and the Association of Producers and Designers in the Textile Industry (FIT).

In parallel, an economic mission organized in cooperation with the Romanian Embassy in Berlin made possible the presence of a few selected Romanian designers’ collections on the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin 2012 runway, among other international fashion names. Irina Schrotter’s individual fashion show for the fall/winter 2012-2013 season presented a woman wearing experimental and avant-garde cuts with an unexpected mix of fabrics and autumnal shades. The jewelry of the collection was by Carla Szabo, the shoes by Mihaela Glavan and the handbags by Otilia Flotea. The styling was done by Marian Palie and Maurice Munteanu.

Grouped under the name of Romanian Designers, another three fashion creatives caught the attention of the international press, buyers and audience. On his third outing on the Berlin catwalk, Lucian Broscatean continued in his characteristic style of mixing symmetric and asymmetric, long and short, white and black, art and utility, woman and man. Entitled “Dream Map”, the collection for fall/winter 2012-2013 got its conceptual references from the film “Institute Benjamenta or This Dream People Call Human Life” directed by the Quay Brothers. Under the styling direction of Marian Palie and completed with shoes by Mihaela Glavan and hats designed by Gabriela Dumitran, the clothes become sort of abstract maps pinpointing different and dislocated images.

Appearing for the first time at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Mihai Dan Zarug, the designer behind the streetwear brand twenty (2) too presented the collection “Victoire: la mort lente de l’esprit” in a very personal interpretation inspired by the surrealist melancholy of Claude Chabrol’s movies and a fundamental theme: the end of the world as it is today over narrated and the victory of the human spirit and creativity. The designer avoids attributing his clothes in particular to women or men, creating very clear and precise structures in minimalist lines, powerful black sweetened with white collars. The shoes were specially made for this collection by Mihaela Glavan and the styling a perfect piece of teamwork with Maurice Munteanu.

In between the two unisex collections, Lena Criveanu brought onto the international catwalk the eternal elegance and femininity of a woman “In Tango Step”. As tango dance expresses the most sophisticated feelings without words, Lena’s collection moves progressively and accentuates the forms while the printed element, an orchid, reveals in minimum detail almost hidden parts of the body drawing them in feminine and perfect shapes. Long or short overcoats with an asymmetric look given by the 2013 development of the urban look for volume cover the natural silk fluidity of the sensual full length gowns and pretty, fragile middle-length dresses. The shoes and long boots of the collection were designed by Mihaela Glavan and Ovidiu Buta gave the styling direction for the whole collection.

Without any doubt Romanian fashion design has more to say on the domestic and international market and can bring huge benefits to the local economy, but as the Berlin event shows, success may come with more state involvement. Unfortunately, Romania does not have a national body like Federation Francaise de la Couture du Pret-a-Porter des Couturiers and Createurs de Mode in France or Federazione Tessile e Moda in Italy to regulate clothing and accessories design within the textile industry. The examples, both of local and international success, are mostly private businesses such as I. D. Sarierri and Jolidon in lingerie or the few fashion designers who have made their own space on the international stages such as Venera Arapu a couple of years ago, the current success of Maria Lucia Hohan in the US and France, and Stephan Pelger in Germany. So a strategy of including Romanian designers’ work at least in the National Export Strategy is a welcome initiative to promote Romanian talents.