Ten thousand visitors attended the Fashion & Design Festival

Fashion and design-specific roundtable discussions, sold-out creative sessions and workshops, a pop-up store with the best pieces from the Hungarian fashion and design world, and interactive themed walks. The three-day-long event — the Fashion & Design Festival — organised by the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency — took place at the Bálna Budapest, a commercial, cultural, entertainment and service centre, as well as in various locations around the capital as a part of St. Stephen's Days during the long weekend.

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency was a professional partner in the compilation of a series of programmes for the festival, which was a part of the St. Stephen's Days event. The festival provided various programmes and experiential learning experiences for those interested in fashion and design, while also allowing us to get to know our country and the talents creating inside its borders a lot better.

The wide range of programmes welcomed many guests with thousands of visitors discovering the unique world of fashion and design through lectures and roundtable discussions, as well as experiencing the joy of creation through a broad range of workshops and creative activities. Aiming to preserve and present cultural identity, the Fashion & Design Festival gave an opportunity for anyone to encounter local culture and contemporary art as well as showcasing the cultural diversity of Budapest and Hungary in a unique way.

On the first day of the Fashion & Design Festival, close to 6000 people visited the fair and exhibitions, while nearly 4000 people attended the event on the second day. On the third day, only those who are interested in fashion and design specifically came, closing the festival with a total of 10,000 visitors during the long weekend. In addition to the selection of different programmes, the Budapest Select Pop-up Store was open to visitors interested in Hungarian products, with around 3,000 people visiting the store on the first day, who were interested to see or buy the latest pieces from the collections of Hungarian designers and special design products. On the second day, the number of visitors remained consistent, with 2,300 visitors browsing through the products of 26 Hungarian brands in the store specifically set up for the weekend.

The creative workshops were held in Bálna Budapest, as well as in different parts of the capital and most of the sessions were packed with excited and interested visitors. In many cases, there were queues in front of the craft stalls, where workshops focusing on Hungarian embroidery, wool felting or bag-making awaited the fashion and design enthusiastic audience. In addition to the creative programmes, the ones looking for an active experience were able to take part in guided tours to discover contemporary design treasures or art nouveau buildings, while the more adventurous were able to go on a treasure hunt on Margaret Island.

The programmes were met with high attendance, with places filling up almost immediately after the application process was opened. Success was crowned by the interactive nature of the tours, with participants asking questions and showing a keen interest in sustainability, recycling, and innovative thinking, which was a key focus throughout the programme. The walk ended close to the Bálna so visitors could easily join in with the activities taking place on-site. During the roundtable discussions, various designers, influencers and other fashion and design industry players explored current topics such as the role of influencers in the world of design and fashion, career paths in the fashion industry or the role of muses in fashion.

At Bálna Budapest, visitors also had the opportunity to get closer to the world of fashion and design through the creators themselves, as they could see and meet the creative talents in person, as well as viewing their products and short films on LED screens. The Agency aims to raise the profile and recognition of the Hungarian fashion and design industry and to promote the creativity of Hungarian fashion and design to as many people as possible. One of the ways the Agency is able to reach this aim is by giving Hungarian brands the opportunity to be featured at events such as the Fashion & Design Festival, which took place as part of the St. Stephen's Days event series. The event also provided an opportunity for the general public to get to know Hungary and the talents that create within its borders a little better and up close, in person.