BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: Łódź Young Fashion 2024

Karolina Pieniążek winner Złota Nitka

Eight edition of Łódź Young Fashion, the most important fashion event in Poland

The last time I was in Lodz was in 2018, when I attended Łódź Young Fashion for the first time. In between there was always a warm contact with people I met in Poland over the years while attending the Polish fashion week, that stopped to exist. Every edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival, Polish design talent is represented, usually from the ASP academy in Lodz. Most recently Julia Burak took part in the The Clash House program.

Now in 2024, my agenda allowed me again to travel to Lodz, a city with the most important textile industry heritage in Poland. In addition, I only now discovered that Lodz is equally important for Polish cinema history. In the Center for Science and Technology EC1, you can visit the impressive National Centre for Film Culture located in a revitalized power station. It serves as a platform for film education and the dissemination of knowledge about cinema. It houses two permanent exhibitions, one of them Kino Polonia, the largest exhibition on the history of Polish cinema.
The reason for my visit to Lodz was the invitation to participate in the panel for Fashion Film Festival, which is part of Łódź Young Fashion program. The competition is organized in partnership with the Film School in Łódź. Completely logical and very good that fashion film, in addition to fashion and textiles program, is being repositioned in this city through this festival.

The youngest features of the ŁYF competitions is the Fashion Film Festival, which is a response to current trends in the fashion industry. Fashion films are becoming more and more popular, if only because brands and designers have recognized the need to court attention in the digital world. It's not only about the business and practical aspects - this form of presentation gives the opportunity to create multidimensionals narratives around the art of fashion.
On the second day of ŁYF, November 22, in the Odeon hall of the NCKF cinema, fifteen finalist films were presented. The main prize, worth EUR 3,000, went to Barbara Iwańczyk for the film “House of Alba” for which she not only designed the costumes but also directed the film. Honorable mention went to The Leap, a film produced by FASHIONCLASH, and directed by Solar Vlaar, Amber Rozema and Yana Engelbrecht.

The jury included, among others, Małgorzata Szumowska - film director, Mateusz Tyszkiewicz - fashion photographer, Branko Popovic - director artistic FASHIONCLASH, Honza Boublik from VOGUE Czechoslovakia, Karolina Tomaszewicz journalist for "Twój STYL" magazine and Tomasz Poborca filmexpert and curator of the National Centre for Film Culture in Łódź.

Alex Hayel

Łódź Young Fashion is one of the most important events in the Polish fashion industry. Its organizers are the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź and the Polish Design Association. The main partner of the event is the City of Łódź, and the partner is the Łódź Event Center. With the showcase of the most promising young Polish designers, presentations of competition collections, guest shows, exhibitions, Fashion Film Festival screenings and inspiring meetings with masters and industry experts, thanks to Łódź Young Fashion, from November 21 to 23, Łódź was again the capital of new generation of fashion design in Poland.

The strength of ŁYF comes from the reputation of the legendary competitions: Złota Nitka and the Diploma Gala of the Fashion Institute of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. Each year, their exciting finals gather the most important figures in the Polish fashion industry, opening the path to professional success for the winners.

The oldest competition is the Złota Nitka (Golden Thread). Its thirty-year tradition and hundreds of presented collections allow it to be considered one of the most important and prestigious industry events in the country. The competition allowed many famous designers to become known today, including: Agata Wojtkiewicz, Łukasz Jemioł, the Paprocki & Brzozowski duo, Adrian Krupa and Mikołaj Żurek. No wonder that every year the final of the competition attracts the attention of the most important figures in the fashion industry, and over 100 designers entered this year's edition. The 12 best were selected by a jury composed of independent fashion industry experts and representatives of the competition hosts. Its members included: Gosia Baczyńska - fashion designer, Kasia Sokołowska - fashion show director, Agnieszka Ścibior - creative director of Viva Moda, Ilona Majer and Rafał Michalak - designers forming the MMC Studio duo, Marcin Świderek - head of the fashion department of Elle magazine, Tomasz Umbras – winner of the Golden Thread 2023, Laima Jurca – winner of the Łódź Young Fashion Award 2018 and Karolina Czajkowska Artistic Director at LPP S.A. and Hanna Zdanowska - Mayor of Łódź and Ph.D. Olga Podfilipska-Krysińska, prof. university - Vice-Rector for development and cooperation of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź.

Twelve finaists competing for the prizes were Bartosz Borowski, Alex Hayel, Rafał Klacza, Zuzanna Kordiukiewicz, Marlena Krawczyk, Marta Kuropatwińska, Oliwia Matlak, Zuzanna Olszewska, Karolina Pieniążek, Adrian Rusowicz, Maciej Stańczak and Weronika Surdacka.

After several prizes were awarded, the main prize was finally announced by the jury. Imagination, emotions and absolute freedom in using the language of design - this is how the jurors described "UNIVERSUM 22", the collection that brought victory and a prize of PLN 30,000 to Karolina Pieniążek. Due to the very high level of the competition, the jurors also decided to award an honorary mention to Bartosz Borowski for the "RECOVERY" collection.

In addition to the jury, the event partners also awarded their awards:
- Distinction from Ferrero, owner of the Duplo brand: Marlena Krawczyk, "I REMEMBER" collection;
- LPP special award: Maciej Stańczak, "AUTHORITY" collection;
- Special award of ELLE magazine: Bartosz Borowski, "Recovery" collection;
- FashionBiznes special award: Karolina Pieniążek, "UNIVERSUM 22" collection;
- MIUMAG special award: Marta Kuropatwińska, "ERRARE" collection;
- LAMODE.INFO special award: Rafał Klacza, "Secrets of Souls" collection.

The eight edition of Łódź Young Fashion concluded with a special guest solo show of Gosia Baczyńska who showcased her latest collection titled THE EARTH THE WORLD, which is an invitation to reflect on man, the universe, matter and the impact of civilization on the earth.

https://lodzyoungfashion.com

More impressions from my visit to Łódź Young Fashion