Budapest Central European Fashion Week, which showcased 2022 spring-summer collections, revived our capital

Budapest, 26 October 2021 - The city moved and fashion life became active during Budapest Central European Fashion Week, once again organised live by the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency. Exciting side events, packed catwalk shows, a pop-up store and on-site exhibitors gave some extra colour to our capital for a full week. The two-day show organised as part of the Fashion Week welcomed more than 4,000 visitors. Domestic and international media, influencers, creative industry professionals, buyers and those interested in fashion came from all over the world to see the latest spring-summer 2022 collection of more than 30 Hungarian and regional designers at the Bálna in Budapest.

After a year, the most awaited fashion event in Hungary, Budapest Central European Fashion Week (BCEFW), was once again organised live by the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency. The event welcomed its audience with exciting, fashion-themed programmes in various parts of our capital between 11-17 October. The highlight of the programme series was 16-17 October at Bálna Budapest, where the works of more than 30 fashion brands were introduced to visitors via shows and exhibitions. The participants in the Agency’s Young Talents Programme also presented their graduation collections.

Nearly 4,000 visitors were able to follow 26 live shows on the 140-meter runway, including renowned members of the international press from Vogue in Italy, Ukraine and Scandinavia, through Czech Cosmopolitan, to Marie Claire Arabia, and well-known influencers such as Declan Chan, Bella Michlo or Chris Burt Allan, gained first-hand experience of Hungarian and regional pieces. Over the two days, more than a hundred Hungarian and foreign photographers and journalists found out about the event through more than a hundred reports. The fashion shows were attended by professionals and distributors from many countries, including Europe, the Middle East, and Russia. Designers had the chance to meet these professionals in person, giving them serious sales opportunities. Both the clothes and the models were very diverse: during the shows, the audience had the chance to see Evelin Nagy, one of the most in-demand international runway models, as well as Panni Epres, who has built a serious modelling career, as well as Hungarian celebrities like the writer Éva Szentesi, and the actress Réka Farkasházi. The organisers also paid close attention to diversity, with a number of plus size models presenting over the two days.

Innovation, technological solutions and digitisation play a key role in the fashion industry, so the Agency considered it essential to make the latest collections of talented contemporary designers visible to as many professionals as possible and to Gen Zers on a wide range of platforms. The shows were also available on several social media platforms. TikTok videos were watched live by more than 1,000 people, and nearly 20,000 people have watched live broadcasts on Facebook so far, which are still available. As a special feature of this year, the Bálna venue was also open in the virtual Decentraland world of Metaverzum during Fashion Week, allowing visitors to connect to BCEFW online.

“Due to the pandemic, our primary goal was basically to organise a small-scale event that can be realised with continuous full-house presentations. Not only did we succeed, but we also received more positive feedback than expected about fashion week and the collections of the brands. We feel that the city moved, with fashion professionals once again able to meet and get to know the latest work of Hungarian and regional designers. During the two-day presentation, we received more than 4,000 visitors. We donated the 2 million forints in ticket sales to the Ecumenical Relief Organisation – pointed out Zsófia Bata-Jakab, CEO of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency.

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency, as an industry advocacy organisation, creates a platform for Hungarian and regional designers to present their collections by holding fashion week regularly. Not only were the professionals interested in the presentations, the Agency also gave students in vocational and higher education a look behind the scenes. Within the framework of the Programme Supporting the Development of Vocational Training in the Fashion Industry, nearly a hundred students arrived from the country's vocational training institutions in Győr, Nyíregyháza, Székesfehérvár, Budapest and Pécs to gain first-hand professional experience. About fifty students from tertiary institutions of the creative industry also attended the shows.

During Fashion Week, the Agency also opened a seasonal store on Fashion Street to help designers with their sales. The Budapest Central European Select pop-up store, which more than 600 people visited during the week, presented the collections of 27 Hungarian and regional talents. In the shop, which presented unique products, customers were able to choose from the current autumn-winter collections and home furnishing items from contemporary fashion and design brands.

This autumn, the Agency prepared a series of thematic events, in the framework of which Hungarian fashion and other designers also appeared at international events. The Maison&Objet design fair took place in Paris in September. Many Hungarian designers presented their creations under the Budapest Select umbrella brand. The collections of talented Hungarian fashion designers could also be seen on the catwalks of Milan Fashion Week. There are other high-quality events in Hungary such as the 360 Design Budapest exhibition and the Budapest Central European Fashion Week, which was joined by one of the industry's global logistics partners, DHL. This is why the fashion week was named BCEFW delivered by DHL. The Fashion & Design Autumn also has a programme for the end of autumn: the Budapest Fashion & Tech Summit digital conference at the beginning of December will address current technology and sustainability issues in the fashion industry for two days.