All eyes on nine Hungarian fashion brands at the 64th Milano Fashion Week

A digital collective show, style consultants, giant projectors worldwide and the latest Autumn-Winter pieces. Participants of the joint international mentoring programme of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency and the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana enjoyed magnificent success at the first completely digital Milano Fashion Week, despite the virus situation. The collective online fashion show with Hungarian brands has received almost 400,000 views so far and can still be rewatched on the event's website.

Hungarian brands took part in one of the most famous fashion events in the world - Milano Fashion Week - for the 5^th time. This year’s fashion week was held under unusual circumstances due to the virus situation, as the shows were broadcasted online in the form of pre-recorded runway videos. This year, Hungary was represented by nine Hungarian brands, six of whom participated in the joint international mentoring programme of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency and the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, and three of them joined the programme as aftercare participants. The two organisations signed a joint strategic agreement in 2018, according to which the internationally recognized, number one Italian fashion chamber internationally will support Hungarian brands as a professional partner for three years. Thanks to the mentoring programme and a three-season presence at MFW, designers are able to prepare for the challenges of entering the international market.

Due to the worsening epidemic situation and the safety of those working at Milano Fashion Week, its organisers decided to implement the event online this year. Seven Hungarian brands - ABODI, Cukovy, Elysian, Kata Szegedi, MERO, THEFOUR, and ZIA Budapest - were able to present their Autumn-Winter 2021/22 collections in a collective online show, while the works of two other designers - ALMA and NINI - of the international mentoring programme were uploaded to the event’s online platform, where fashion enthusiasts and international audiences alike can view their creations.

The organiser of the event, CNMI, paid great attention to providing exceptionally high visibility to the designers despite the unusual circumstances. Thanks to the organisation's streaming partners, the presentations could be viewed in several parts of the world, such as in China, Japan and Russia, and those interested were able to admire the works of Hungarian brands on giant projectors in Milan, Rome and New York’s famous Times Square. On the CNMI website, the recordings reached almost 4,000 views, while on streaming websites they reached almost 400,000 views.

A few of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency’s employees helped the brands with their preparation on-site, however, they were also supported by renowned fashion show consultants such as Luca De Ovidiis and Paolo Turina. As this year there was no opportunity for an on-site exhibition, the HFDA organised online premiere events under the name of Budapest Select Buying, where the products of several brands were presented to resellers simultaneously. This new solution proved to be a particularly successful one: almost 20 negotiations took place, including with Italian, Japanese, Turkish and Italian buyers, and the Agency also held international sales negotiations with CNMI. During the meetings, the HFDA was once again in contact with big names such as Saks, Harvey Nichols, Tsum, or Concento. The event gained huge press interest. In addition to the nearly 60 Hungarian media outlets, 30 international fashion magazines also covered the fashion week, and the works of Hungarian brands were reported on in the American Marie Claire and Elle Magazine, as well as in the Spanish Harper’s Bazaar. Additionally, several influencers also communicated about the topic, including Sara Muzi and Alessia Sica.

All video and visual content can be viewed on the official website of Milano Fashion Week: https://milanofashionweek.cameramoda.it/

The works of the brands featured at the event can be all viewed individually between 25-28 March, at Budapest Central European Fashion Week, which will also be held in digital form.