Best young fashion designers to be determined at Habitus Baltija 2015!

The most talented young and already acknowledged fashion designers, experts and academic staff members of fashion colleges from European and CIS countries will come to Riga to take part in the Competition for Young Fashion Designers “Habitus Baltija 2015” to be held at Kipsala International Exhibition Centre on 17 April.

"This is a very special year for “Habitus Baltija” because the competition celebrates its 15th anniversary. Over these years, “Habitus Baltija” has evolved professionally becoming an important springboard and a valuable contribution to the future career of young designers,” told Sanita Blomniece, a project manager of “Habitus Baltija”, adding that the competition is quality not quantity focussed this year.

More than 35 young talented designers from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Russia, Belarus, Croatia and Turkey have passed the “Habitus Baltija” selection round so far. It is expected that the competition will present 40 young fashion designers from around 10 countries.

Extraordinary ideas and unusual shapes
The collections impress with creativity, interesting shapes, bright colours and unconventional fabrics – from romantic and airy to laconic, transformable and futuristic outfits with technological and architectural elements.

Young designers have found inspiration in a variety of unusual sources – childhood memories, human body, animals, architecture, historical facts such as the Great October Revolution, arts like the painting "Riga - Andrejosta" by Andris Vītoliņš and even in the ancient Latvian belief "If you see a chimney sweep, grab his button – it brings good luck!" Read more about the competition collections: www.bt1.lv/habitus/?link=01000000

“Habitus Baltija” gathers a record number of participating schools!
“Habitus Baltija” will also determine the best fashion school! A record number of fashion schools are going to compete for the title of the best fashion school this year – the Art Academy of Latvia (Latvia), Riga Technical University (Latvia), Vilnius Academy of Arts and its affiliate in Telsiai (Lithuania), Vilniaus Kolegija – University of Applied Sciences (Lithuania), Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonia), Tallinn University of Applied Sciences (Estonia), University of Zagreb (Croatia), Cracow School of Art and Fashion Design (Poland), Novia University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Ivanovo State Textile Academy (Russia), Moscow State Regional University (Russia) and others.

Judges – well-known fashion experts
The originality of the collections and the quality of apparel will be evaluated by an international panel of judges chaired by Margareta van den Bosch, Creative Adviser and a long-time Design Director of H&M (Sweden), who is responsible for all special collections at H&M, and including such acclaimed professionals as Emmanuelle Bresson, a representative of ESMOD Paris (France), Claudia Arend, Professor at the AMD Academy of Fashion and Design (Germany), Giovanni Ottonello, Professor at the IED Group (Italy), Leor Gofman, a designer and founder of the fashion label LEORGOFMAN, the winner of “Habitus Baltija 2011” (Belarus), Annika Vītola, an International Sales Expert, VALD Agency (Denmark), Elena Strahova, a president of the Baltic Fashion Federation (Latvia), Indra Miklāva, a fashion designer (Latvia), Anita Sedliņa, a fashion journalist (Latvia), Olga Kolotova, a stylist and Fashion Director at the Publishing House “Rīgas Viļņi”, a co-founder of Riga Fashion & Photo School (Latvia), Oļegs Zernovs, a fashion photographer (Latvia).

Valuable prizes for the winners
The winners and other contestants will receive prizes giving them the opportunity to participate in various prestigious international fashion competitions, exhibitions and shows.

Thus, the participants will get the opportunity to participate in the Cracow Fashion Week, the “Fashion Mill” competition in Minsk (Belarus), the International Fashion Competition “Russian Silhouette” to be held in Moscow (Russia), the International Young Designers Competition “Plyos on the Volga. Linen Palette” in the Ivanovo region (Russia), the ERKI Fashion Show in Tallinn (Estonia) and other events.

The winner of “Habitus Baltija 2015” will receive not only a title of the best designer, but also a cash prize of EUR 500 from Renault Latvia and the opportunity to attend the summer courses at the prestigious ESMOD International Fashion School in Paris.

There will also be a variety of prizes from the "Habitus Baltija 2015" sponsors and partners: the Baltic Fashion Federation, the Baltika Group Company, the café “Buržuja brokastis” and other.

Springboard for young fashion designers!
Many of widely acclaimed fashion designers, for example, Triinu Pungits and Triin Isak from Estonia, Magdalena Smielak and Peggi Pavlovski from Poland, Anita Altmane, Indra Miklāva, Agnese Narņicka, Agnese Oleskāne, Reinis Ratnieks and other Latvian designers have started their career at “Habitus Baltija”.

The aim of “Habitus Baltija” is to discover and support young, talented fashion designers, and offer a place where one can enrich their experience through the exchange of ideas and knowledge between young and experienced fashion designers and fashion professionals.

"Habitus Baltija" last year was included in the programme of Riga 2014, the European Capital of Culture and gathered 55 young fashion designers from 12 countries. Read more: www.habitus.lv

“Habitus Baltija 2015” is held by the International Exhibition Company BT 1 in conjoint with the Art Academy of Latvia. The official “Habitus Baltija 2015” car is the Renault, the official delicacy – Skrīveri home-made ice cream, the official coffee – Coffee Inn, the official beverage – wines from Līgatne Winery.

The competition occurs simultaneously with the International Textile and Fashion Fair “Baltic Fashion & Textile RIGA 2015”. It will offer to the citizens of Riga and guests, professionals and enthusiasts an opportunity to draw new ideas watching fashion shows, to broaden their horizons by participating in the workshops and master classes conducted by fashion professionals. Read more: www.bt1.lv/bt1/fashion

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