“Communication is of pivotal importance in achieving success and creating an audience”

As a reaction to market needs and professional feedback, the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA) launched the Talents Mentoring Programme for the first time in autumn 2022 with the main goal of helping fresh graduate, entrant designers in career planning and expanding their professional and entrepreneurial skills. We asked Krisztina Maróy, Glamour’s Editor-in-Chief, who has been participating in the mentoring programme as an expert from the beginning, the evaluation of the entries, about the experiences and the mentees of the now ongoing programme.

As the Editor-in-Chief of Glamour, in what ways do you connect to the creative industry’s young talents?

We keep monitoring young talents, in the last nearly 20 years we have helped many new entrant fashion designers to valuable press appearances so that the audience could get to know them. As a media outlet, it is very important to aid the creative industry. Ours is also an infinitely creative branch so we can create many collaborations, discussions, and joint works which, looking back, will become the history of the creative industry.

You provide professional assistance in many HFDA programmes and you joined the Talents Mentoring Programme already in the selection process. Which aspects helped you in judging the 29 candidates?

I always pay attention to the standard and the potential that we can bring out of a candidate. Aesthetics are especially important but I try to be as objective as possible and use my experience in popular communication and the media. Naturally, not everyone needs to target a wide audience, but the Hungarian creative industry could use a few more internationally known and renowned names and brands.

Those who got into the programme could meet you first in a roundtable discussion where you presented creative industry life paths and career models with the other guests. In your opinion, which are the main challenges for mentees when it comes to a career?

The markets’ oversaturation, inflation due to overproduction, the uncontrolled progress of communication, the difficulty of keeping a focus, attention deficit, and the anxiety determining our everydays.

On such occasions, it often becomes clear that there is a great need for motivating words and inspiring stories. How do you motivate people entering the creative field?

It's very difficult to maintain focus today, in the attention economy, where our attention is actually being exploited by ourselves, too. I encouraged them to look less at what other people are doing and do their job. They are lucky since, as creators, they have renewal and self-realisation in their hands as well as the possibility of working with great concentration. It helps a lot if we compare ourselves less to others and pay attention to our own messages. I further encouraged them to collaborate with each other and other artists, make use of the learning and communication opportunities of cooperation and not do everything on their own as creators but collaborate with communication experts who will help their products to reach the people.

The Talents mentees take part in workshops on a wide range of topics, they could learn about the relationship between media, fashion, and design from you. In your view, to what extent do designers and creative professionals have to be experts in these areas?

Communication is of pivotal importance in achieving success and creating an audience. Creative professionals must be very open in this area as well. I do not think that they have to deal with it, but they need to know exactly what their options are. Their creations and products form the communication strategy so they have to determine the most important thoughts they want to say about them. They must be very thorough and consistent in this.

What questions or thoughts came up in the mentees’ minds in connection with the topic?

Similarly to everyone at the beginning of their careers, they are faced with a myriad of dilemmas and it is only natural that they are exploring ideas as to what kind of creative career they can imagine for themselves. For my part, I always strive not to dictate, not to restrict, but on the contrary, to open up possibilities. The creative fields are extraordinary because boundaries are more fluid and only our fantasies can limit what we can imagine. It is not good if, in a country, the creators start their careers by contemplating their limits. It is like starting your life by focusing on what you certainly cannot achieve or do instead of the things you can achieve with attention and self-development. A basic question of the mentees was what to do with the chaos of communication. It is an everyday problem and you must be very disciplined and change your habits and you must have much more concrete plans in brand building, and be very flexible.

How interested are they in the world of the media and perhaps the editorial work?

Everyone is interested in the media since we live in a medialised world. We follow the majority of things through screens and the media. In fact, without exaggeration, our lives are written and created in relation to the media, even our thoughts and creations are mostly inspired by impressions through the media.

Now that you have met the team several times, what is your opinion about the participating mentees, how would you describe the team?

The team is very active and curious, they are not afraid to ask questions, they are able to do critical thinking and self-reflection, and we immediately found a way to understand each other and engage in dialogue. They are great creators, I am sure they will have a successful career.

If I am correct, the connections do not end here and you will have a role in the internship stage of the programme as well. Can you tell us about it?

We will show one of the mentees the operation of the GLAMOUR Universe, they can spend some more time with us and see how we think, and it may help them see the links between their creations and the media better.

Finally, what is one thought you would tell mentees and those planning to start a creative career?

I would tell them not to think exclusively in the digital, but the real world as well and try to obtain an interdisciplinary way of thinking, and that their brand should have a social message as well. Nowadays, creators and brands who only create new objects for themselves, are not up-to-date. Today, we need activist designers who solve problems and design a better future for us.