BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: Highlights from Fashion LIVE! Bratislava 2015

Stará Tržnica, the former market building gave stage to the third edition of Fashion LIVE! Slovak Fashion Week Initiative.
From October 21 - 23 the three day event programma featured emerging names from the Slovak fashion scene but also welcomed designers from Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland and Hungary.
Representing the Netherlands was the FASHIONCLASH talent Joelle Boers who managed to stage a very fresh presentation.
For a rather small country you would not consider as a fashion destination Fashion LIVE! is a great supporter of young designers and aims to stimulate the Slovakian fashion design industry. Next to few names that are already more established on a national level it is promising to see many potential in the younger generation. Each day started with collective young designers show where I found the most excitement.
Under the collective shows 'SCI-FI SAFARI, Atelier 343 and Zlin Academy show more than 20 young designers where given the stage.
Considering the fact that event like Fashion LIVE! are contributing to development of talent it can be expected that we will be hearing more from Slovakian designers in the near future.

wearing a bomber by Joelle Boers
picture by welinna.com

The event ended with an award ceremony, for which I had the honor to take part in the jury. Designer that I knew from participation at FASHIONCLASH Festival Lenka Sršňová presented the overall best collection. Lenka showed that she is capable of staying authentic while actually designing clothing that people want and can wear. It pleases me to see how she has developed her brand in the bast years. Together with Marcel Holubec who won best show, both designers showcased strong proposals. Award for best young designer went to Petra Kubíková.
Other names on Fashion LIVE! schedule that impressed where Boris Hanečka and Martin Hrča. While Boris could have benefited from a less is more approach and better line-up, Martin Hrča's collection was very creative but rather heavy. Martin's menswear pieces appeared more consistent and solid. Nevertheless both strong in their aesthetic and feeling for fashion design.
Furthermore on the runway I have enjoyed proposals by guest designers Domi Gryzbek, Mirka Horka and Jiri Kalfar. Other personal favorite was the menswear collection by Jan Černý, finalist of the Signal contest.
Im am looking back to a very nice encounter with Slovakian fashion designers and jury members. Not to forget the enjoyable stay at Avance Hotel and all the lovely cafes and hangouts downtown in between the shows. Thanks to FashionLIVE! for having me!

http://www.fashionlive.sk

Take a look at the impressions and selection of the highlights from FashionLIVE! Slovak Fashion Week Initiative