BCEFW: Fostering community to globally uplift Central European talent

Winds of change have descended over the fashion industry. As the demand for headlining luxury brands wanes–consider the declining financials of giants like Kering and LVMH–a gap is opening in the market for newness. And Budapest Central European Fashion Week (BCEFW) believes it has the solution.

This season, the fashion week, which celebrated its 15th anniversary, ran from February 10 to 16, with programmes and exhibitions held throughout the week, and shows taking place throughout the final three days. The schedule, made up of 50 industry events, intends to contribute to organiser the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency’s (HFDA) four core pillars; exposing Hungarian designers to local consumers, internationalising their names, educating the industry and developing the country’s manufacturing network for wider availability. In regards to the latter, Hungary’s position cannot be denied. The country already serves as a major destination for the production chains of luxury brands, only hinting at the underlying level of craftsmanship accessible in the region. Yet, the hope is that through the BCEFW, this talent can emerge and make a name for itself on a more global fashion platform.

Budapest isn’t the only emerging fashion city vying for such a feat. Fashion weeks in Oslo, Riga and Barcelona, for example, are also clawing for an acclaim already achieved by Copenhagen and Berlin, which had at once staged formerly up-and-coming designers and are now hotspots for well-known talent. However, with Hungary’s location, organisers see its responsibility as more of a pedestal for Central Europe–hence the name–within which many promising designers in smaller, less connected regions are also seeking recognition. To achieve this, BCEFW has continued to expand on its partnerships with the fashion collectives of neighbouring countries, such as Serbia, Slovakia, Romania and Czech, an idea conceived during Covid, allowing each to show a curation of names at BCEFW, either in group shows on the first day of the fashion week or in larger shows on the preceding days.

Petra Kubikova: ‘I want to make local fashion for local people…’

Slovak designer Petra Kubikova is evidence that such a partnership can pay off. To stage her collections, the designer has regularly taken to Budapest, where she has found a dedicated consumer group among Hungarian clients. BCEFW has thus provided ample opportunities for Kubikova since she initially participated in its early days. Compared to other events, she said the professionalism in everything from the organisation of the schedule to the models keeps drawing her back, as does its fee, which is more attainable than larger-scale fashion weeks. Sticking close to her home country also allows her to participate in the international fashion calendar while in proximity with her consumer, aligning with her made-to-order production. Kubikova added: “I want to make local fashion for local people. When we talk about the environment, it doesn’t make sense to make huge amounts of clothing to be sent via plane or ship.”

Partnerships go both ways, of course. Hungarian names are also then invited to exhibit at the fashion weeks of associated countries, as is the case for Kata Szegedi. For this season of BCEFW, the designer duo behind the brand, Szegedi and her friend Daniel Benus, opted to show their collection in a presentation format, and will later host a show as part of Bucharest Fashion Week, another to have sparked industry-wide interest despite having just two editions under its belt. Though Szegedi has set her perimeters wider than Budapest, having also shown in New York and Milan, as seen among many Hungarian brands, there is an innate sense of community defining how she as a designer operates. This notion is carried through into her showcases, for which Szegedi turns to friends in other cultural sectors for collaborations–photography by Jelen Ádám made up the backdrops of her AW25 presentation, for example.

Szegedi is among a handful of more established Hungarian names showing in the capital, which take up the second day of the event, as a means of supporting the local industry and connecting with consumers here in person. “Budapest is becoming a hot spot for fashion now. We [herself and Benus, ed.] love the city. We are designing for urban humans, so we are really interested in the passion behind the big city life. We have a lot of personal clients here, but we also have orders from worldwide,” she said, before noting that she doesn’t sacrifice the brand’s intimate essence for a fast expansion.

Dora Zsigmond, the designer and founder of her namesake brand Zsigmond, is also very much about retaining relationships, not just with her close clients but also with the individuals from whom she sources rare and historic materials. This reinforces Zsigmond’s efforts to preserve rural Hungarian heritage, of which she is an expert, having served as an advisor to exhibitions exploring such topics. It is a concept that carried through into her AW25 show, ‘Dark Horse’, where she unveiled what the designer said was her “most emotional collection yet”, delivered by models that paced the runway as though they were the 18th and 19th Century outlaws who had inspired the rag-tag designs.

Channelling such inspiration reflects an intention to bring Zsigmond’s deep knowledge of Hungarian folklore to a younger generation, who have somewhat lost touch with this history due to limited exposure. According to brand manager Kristztina Tar, this idea also resonates with clients from New York to Tokyo, who appreciate or recognise the cultural references in their own lives. These make up members of the brand's international yet close-knit community, which it has slowly grown despite Budapest lacking the scale of network seen among other fashion capitals. The demand is there, however, and it was particularly obvious at the show, which was packed to the brim with fans who were able to snap up tickets ahead of time.

Democratising the fashion experience while opening doors for locals

Involving the public in fashion week has long been integral to BCEFW. Through the Fashion Hub, a city-wide programme of public events, and the limited sale of runway show tickets, the fashion week includes an audience that have an increased desire to support their local industry and its brands, many of which they are clients for. This is the perspective of HFDA CEO, Zsófia Jakab, who assigned the final day of fashion week solely to local names. She said: “[Hungarian consumers] want to support [local designers] to the best of their abilities, so these designers need to be known in Hungary. [The fashion week] is how they can get closer to their consumers.”

Cementing this wider support for the industry is imperative, particularly in the current climate, which has most notably proved difficult for emerging designers. To mitigate these issues, the HFDA provides mentorship, advice and a stage to brands who are able to prove their capabilities. Young designer Victoria Wang is among those. Her collection made up the latter portion of the New Talent Collective show, which served as the finale for the first day of BCEFW. In just five looks of delicate plissé and feminine cuts, drawing inspiration from the Chinese Mignon ethnic group, she was able to effectively showcase what her brand stood for.

For designers like Wang, one of the largest obstacles is building relationships with local manufacturers and suppliers, with fabric shops typically the go-tos for her own collections at this moment. It's a widespread issue faced by newer names, globally even, who are unable to secure deals without the larger production capacities required by manufacturers, many of which in Hungary already serve large-scale luxury names, like Dolce&Gabbana. Jakab recognises this cycle, yet, with the agency’s fourth pillar focused on building up manufacturing, it's a one she hopes to break through BCEFW.

Jakab admits that indeed there is still a lot to learn in Hungary when it comes to uplifting not only its own fashion names, but the industry itself. Demand is increasing, but the country is yet to catch up, and while the retail environment is in the present day tricky on a global scale, it is lacking in abundance in Hungary’s capital. Budapest itself does not house a department store, for example, and only has a handful of luxury brand stores, with many multinationals, like Inditex’s Zara, then taking up the rest of its central shopping streets. Brands instead favour showroom formats, where they can directly welcome clients. Jakab, who has a background in tourism, said to help turn round this lack of retail opportunity, she and the HFDA are working with the relevant organisations to help build up this landscape for its designers and for the industry as a whole, a shift she expects to see over the coming years.

Building up the industry for the benefit of home-grown talent

Further insight is garnered from BCEFW’s long-standing relationship with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) and the fashion week’s own Advisory Board, a team of industry experts that were brought together in 2023 to help inform both the agency and member designers in their pursuit of acclaim. Among those on the board are Vanguards Group co-founder and Nanushka CEO, Peter Baldaszti, and website editor-in-chief of Vogue Ukraine, Violett Fedorova, who was in attendance at BCEFW this season.

Fedorova joined the advisory board just one year after the beginning of the war between Russia and her home country of Ukraine, the start of which made her realise the power of fashion as a communication tool. “It does not need translation and can be understood by everyone. It is also part of cultural diplomacy, and local fashion weeks help accumulate young talents, demonstrate them, manifest them and develop them,” she told FashionUnited. Akin to other collectives, cooperation between UFW and BCEFW already exists in the participation of Ukrainian designers at Budapest, however, Fedorova also sees commercial potential in the synergies between the two nations.

When asked what challenges there were in introducing Central European brands to a wider audience, Fedorova said: “The competition is huge, but you have to understand that Central Europe is a very interesting region that has essentially developed for a long time between two empires. Here, the West meets the East, and this gives a unique mix of traditions that are not found anywhere else in the world. Therefore, local designers, in my opinion, should work even more actively with their heritage, traditions, and make them relevant. Also, for me, Central European design is about a large amount of handmade work. This strong side should be shown even more brightly, because in a world where AI is already coming, handmade work will be even more valuable.”

Commercial interest was evidenced by the number of international buyers on the front row. He Jing, a France-based buyer for a number of Chinese boutiques, was drawn to the fashion week both to garner a comprehensive understanding of the Central and Eastern European fashion market, and in turn to discover new designers to present to the stores she works with. Reflecting on the shows, she told FashionUnited: “Hungarian designers often incorporate a unique blend of European tradition and modernity in their tailoring and material choices, which aligns well with the preferences of contemporary high-end Chinese consumers.”

Jing particularly seeks designers that possess both a strong personal identity and market potential. “We highly appreciate brands that set high standards for their own development and have a clear overseas expansion strategy. This gives us more confidence in our promotional efforts and pricing strategies,” said Jing. Despite brand recognition being one of the biggest challenges faced by Jing in introducing new brands to China, there is a growing demand for European names, particularly in first- and second-tier cities. She added: “The younger generation of consumers is increasingly open to niche, high-end, and independent designer brands. These consumers are typically well-educated, globally minded individuals who seek uniqueness and individuality, using fashion as a means to express their lifestyle and values.”

Looking ahead to the September edition, HFDA’s Zsófia Jakab is anticipating a bigger programme, with more outdoor venues to take advantage of the warmer weather. Beyond this, however, she envisions a BCEFW that can take on the responsibility of being a global platform for designers from this heritage-rich region, increasing their exposure through expanded media and buyer presence, as well as public activities. “There is a big opportunity for us now because people are searching for something unique, and in this region, there are amazing talents,” she concluded.