.2024
Grădinile Palas
Within the first three editions of Romanian Creative Week, Innovative Future Platform has answered many questions regarding what a healthy future can mean for Romanian Fashion.
Starting with the 2024 edition, the section will be known as RFW Platform, and will be developed in three pillars: curation of innovative fashion designers and invited prestigious Universities that will present catwalk shows, organizing – RFW Forum – where important aspects related to the fashion industry will be debated, launching together with strategic Partners of Call-for-Projects dedicated to the BA & MA Students from the Fashion Departments of the National Arts Universities, to support & showcase the creativity early on in the studies.
RFW Platform is continuing the mission set by the Young Designers & Debut section of Romanian Fashion Week, which starting from the late ‘90s has been discovering, launching, supporting designers, many of whom are now successful in their own brands or in national & international professional environments.
As part of Romanian Fashion Week, and in the context of Romanian Creative Week festival, the RFW Platform Section is contributing at building ecosystems which can generate ideas, concepts, stories, and visual identities relevant for the creative industries.
Curated Designers
Alesia Cîdă
A Womenswear Fashion Design Graduate from London College of Fashion has a focus on resourcefulness.
The starting point comes from their own special junk collection: interesting objects, trinkets, textiles, and trash they’ve collected along the years.
While pondering the past and future, they portray childhood nostalgia or dystopian forthcoming scenarios using the needle punching machine and upcycling techniques.
Capsali
Introducing CAPSALI, a Romanian brand founded by Ana Capsali, driven by her ardour for elegance and the aesthetic heritage she carries with grace. Born into a family of numerous role models, particularly in terms of behaviour, cultural values, and refinement, Ana was inspired to embrace these qualities in every aspect of her life.
Her artistic journey began early on as she explored various art forms, honing her creative skills in graphic design, painting, and sculpture. However, it was the world of fashion that truly captured her heart. Achieving mastery in fashion through her education in both Romania and Italy, she furthered her career through internships within the industry.
In 2022, fuelled by her ambition and unwavering dedication, Ana embarked on an entrepreneurial path by enrolling in an entrepreneurship course. This journey laid the foundations for CAPSALI, whose aesthetics embody an ancestral luxury with a nostalgic yet modern essence.
As a Romanian-based brand, we closely collaborate with local manufacturers to deliver exceptional garments that transcend fleeting trends and embody the art of thoughtful fashion, making them essential staples in your wardrobe. We are committed to maintaining responsible industry practices without compromising on quality standards. Operating with a conscious commitment to using premium materials, our small-scale production enables us to focus on every intricate detail, ensuring that each garment is the epitome of exquisiteness.
Caravasili
In the heart of the Moldovan brand CARAVASILI beats the rhythm of three generations, a legacy woven with passion, expertise, and an unwavering commitment to the art of clothing technology, and fashion. Tradition seamlessly fuses with innovation in the brand’s DNA, reflecting the dedication to the individual tailoring. Meticulously crafting each garment based on the client’s individual measurements, the brand adheres to high-quality standards, celebrating the timeless allure of couture. Striving to exceed its boundaries, CARAVASILI presents a vibrant, youthful, and contemporary outlook on elegance.
At CARAVASILI, we focus our passion on Outerwear, empowering the modern woman through quality garments that embody a bold and confident attitude. Our core values revolve around the belief that fashion is not just about clothing; it’s about radiating confidence with every step. Our garments are precisely fashioned to flatter various silhouettes, playing with proportions to enhance figures and instill powerful attitude.
CARAVASILI is centered around a commitment to excellence, ensuring a lasting and transformative experience.
Cristina Alexandru
Cristina Alexandru is a MA student enrolled in the courses of the Faculty of Decorative Arts and Design at National University of Arts Bucharest, with a focus on Fashion and Design. Through the years of her studies, she took up internships and workshops of Romanian designers, she also entered several contests, the latest of which being the one organized by VforVintage and IED with Feeric Fashion Week, where she had the amazing opportunity to display her work on the Feeric FW podium. Also, since 2021, she’s co-host of the radio show Art of Fashion/Fashion of Art at BlackRhino Radio. She is passionate about several fields of Art, such as fashion illustration, photography, sculpture. In her opinion, art exhibits the string, the connection between the inside and the outside and what her work manages to express. She is interested in the many problems our society faces nowadays, such as those concerning the environment.
(IN) CORPORATE COLLECTION
CORPORATE PEOPLE AND THEIR MENTAL ILLNESSES
The concept of the collection starts from the idea that modern people are working in a stressful environment, and this affects their mental health. This “sickness culture” seems to be a very big problem for both employees and employers. The collection presents 10 outfits, each of which represents a specific type of corporatist (the trusted lieutenant; the voice of reason; the real deal; the inferiority/superiority complex personality; the one lacking in self-awareness; the expert; the exited school kid). In terms of accessories, inspired by the works of Johnson Tsang, the artist wanted to create bags that reflect the central idea of the collection, the mental problems of corporate people, in a creative way.
Cyclederror
“CYCLEDERROR” is a brand established in 2021 in Cluj-Napoca by three designers Benea Bogdan, Bogdana Firu and Alexandra Grăjdeanu in 2021, having the corset as their main product. In present days the brand operates under the creative direction of Benea Bogdan with support from co-founder Alexandra Grajdeanu.
The idea was born out of the desire to redefine the boundaries of fashion by seamlessly blending elegance with a touch of edginess offering the perfect product for every street style combination. The designs are deeply rooted in the typology of the corset as, having versatile morphologies that offers a diverse range of styles that cater to the modern fashion enthusiast.
This brand has a clear mission – avoiding unnecessary usage of fabric by recycling and upcycling –because they believe that beauty should not come at the expense of the environment. Sustainability is part of the “CYCLEDERROR” family, allowing them to be responsible towards the environment.
Daiana Stăncioiu
Daiana Stăncioiu is a BA and MA Degree Graduate from the Programs of the Fashion Design Department at the University of Art and Design from Cluj-Napoca and is currently a PhD student in the 1st year of UAD’s Doctoral School.
Her personal preoccupation as a fashion designer and visual artist focuses on researching various forms of textile manipulation through conventional and unconventional techniques such as embroidery, digital printing, serigraphy printing, cyanotype, inspired by phytomorph and arthropods in nature, analysing psychological subjects, multiple stylistic changes but also the way the versatility of the garments is presented.
The complexity of the garments can be found in the cultural and architectural aesthetic influences and in the socio-human problems pursued over several decades of Art History and Costume History that harmonize the male and female silhouette creating innovative modern forms.
Daniel Radu
Daniel Radu is a Fashion Design Graduate, currently doing his masters degree in fashion at the National University of Arts, in Bucharest.
“I drew patterns, stitched and unstitched seams, until I understood the rules that I ended up breaking later on, intentionally. It felt like a journey with no end, but in the blink of an eye, graduation time came. This is me. And this is alchemy.”
The concept of The Age of Speed is starting to make its presence felt more and more, affecting everyone, therefore we should be constantly adapting our lifestyle to these ongoing changes.
That is why the brand comes to help the modern human, the one with an active life, who cares about his image, does not put a price on the gender labels of clothing and is in a continuous process of transformation. Each piece represents a process of improvement of practical abilities, a merger of two stylistic directions that are completely different from one another, breaking the gender barriers in clothing.
The debut collection of the brand, Alchemy, consists of pieces made out of lycra, each pattern has certain alterations in order to get rid of the ordinary that we are used to regarding sportswear. The pieces are dinamic, based on the idea of a perfect symmetry.
They are easy to style with elegant clothing items, for a classy look. On the other hand, the blazers, for instance, were modified and constructed so they could be worn during daytime activities, such as a gym session or work.
CONTACT: https://www.instagram.com/dani.radu/
Ionuț Răzvan
Ionuț Răzvan is a young designer, a Graduate of the University of Arts in Bucharest, Fashion Design Department. His BA collection, “nobody finds me attractive” won the prize of the Fashion Department for the best collection of 2023.
He attended national fashion festivals such as – Feeric Fashion Week in Sibiu, Transilvania Fashion Festival in Cluj, and Arad Fashion Days in Arad – winning the special prize of the BeCreative Fest Jury, led by Marian Pălie and Liliana Popescu.
He aims to convey emotions through his creations, to build scenarios in the minds of the viewers and to bring theatricality and drama to the Romanian fashion scene. At the same time, ready-to-wear pieces are part of the designer’s collections which are highlighted through bold stylings.
Pop culture is a primary source of inspiration for IONUȚ RĂZVAN, managing to collaborate with artists such as Antonia, Delia and EMAA. His emotions and feelings are translated into his collections through the manipulation of textiles and the construction of the pieces, adding volume and creating dramatic shapes.
Kiss Gyöngyvér
Kiss Gyöngyvér is a PhD candidate and assistant professor at the Department of Fashion Design at the University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca. As a fashion designer and a visual artist, she researches the expressive characteristics of gender identity in fashion.
Interested in the relationship between clothing-body-textile surface, she develops digital prints in a personal way, combining various elements of different decorative and visual art periods.
Lenca
LENCA is a Romanian brand founded by Elena Vanghelici, a graduate of the National University of Arts in Bucharest. The name LENCA is a derivative of the name Elena and comes from Aromanian culture. It was passed down from generation to generation in the designer’s family, where tradition presupposes that the grandchildren must inherit the names of the grandparents. Therefore, the name itself keeps the past alive and gives transcendental attributes to the present.
LENCA started from Elena’s desire to express her own vision of femininity. The image of femininity has changed majorly along with the status of women in society and following these “revolutions” have appeared iconic shapes in fashion, that the brand integrates into the modern wardrobe. Therefore, LENCA is about a symbiosis of the past with the present, about shapes, colours, textures that make a statement and about women who are not afraid to propose bold outfits, which will stand out regardless of the context.
Lunar Laboratories
LUNAR Laboratories is a clothing and accessories brand, founded in Bucharest, Romania with a constant concern for identifying the best alternatives towards a sustainable future in the fashion industry.
The creative vision of the brand is centered around the past experience in the field of aerospace engineering of creative director, Vlad Vraciu, highlighting clear lines, right angles, shapes or layers transposed from the dynamics of aircraft, in ready-to-wear pieces, with the desire to to propose a personal perspective on the future in fashion design.
The brand aims to experience Art through clothing design in various directions such as deconstructivism, textural experiments on fabrics, structural volumes inspired by architecture, or packed layering.
Thus, all the pieces created have multiple functionalities, following the main intention of offering clothing items that can be used both in everyday life and at different types of events. The aesthetic style approached is an alternative one, with dark-futuristic valences.
The debut of the brand took place in the year 2022 through the collection entitled “S2”. Later, the collections “AMETSA331”, “PAST RESILIENCE” and the last collection “BLINDFOLDED” followed. Each collection represents an attempt by the LUNAR Laboratories crew to reach the Moon. In this sense, each journey, as the collections are understood, represents another step towards the proposed objective. We can also state that these trips also represent a moment in the personal and creative development of the designer behind the brand.
The collections “AMETSA331”, “PAST RESILIENCE” and “BLINDFOLDED” were presented during Paris Fashion Week in 2023 and 2024, and the collection “BLINDFOLDED” was also presented at Berlin Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week in February 2024.
CONTACT: https://www.instagram.com/lunar.laboratories/?hl=en
Mădălina Buzaș
Mădălina Buzaș is a fashion brand for those who dare to be different, that encourages women to feel confident elegant, and empowered. It was founded by the designer with the same name, that uses deconstructive minimalism with asymmetric cuts, maintaining a strong focus on attention to detail.
Her mission is to design timeless pieces where elegance meets edge, that celebrate individuality and inspire confidence by embracing a fusion of classic elegance and modern sophistication. The whole concept for the brand gravitates around the idea of woman’s independence & their development in modern times.
Every product signed Mădălina Buzaș is an expression of independence and maturity, her collections being reflections of struggles of being a modern woman. We are talking about classic, timeless pieces, which the designer interprets in a very personal, slightly non-conformist manner, without the intention of giving up their functionality.
Raluc
Raluc started in the summer of 2021 as a manifestation of my artistic vision. The “mission” of the brand is to create timeless, durable, and high-quality clothes that tell a story. My passion for drawing was a major influence, which facilitated the closeness and desire to make clothes. I find inspiration either from nature or from the beauty and fluidity of the human body, both being in constant motion, transformation, which is an unlimited creative resource. The clothes are inspired from this concept and materialize in clear, sculptural, clean shapes and lines that highlight the body. Most pieces are minimalist, casual, over-sized or adjustable to support diversity and create unique ways to wear clothes. The final product is a balance between colour, composition, and material. The vision of the brand is responsible in terms of material resources and the process of creation and sale, being a slow-fashion business. In other words, the garments are made to order, to avoid wasting material or other resources. Brand integrity consists in controlling the production, creation, and choice of quality materials.
The brand’s debut was in November 2021 with the launch of the “Pink Days / Blue Days” collection. The name of the collection is inspired by the work of the artist Louise Bourgeois, “Pink Days and Blue Days”, which invites the viewer into the intimacy of her childhood, suggesting the artist’s growing-up process.
Located on the border of casual and classy, the „Pink Days/Blue Days” collection wants to offer individuality to both the wearer and the garment. It is an attempt to escape from reality and to fight for the beauty of fluidity.
Due to the latest collection, the brand has evolved on all levels. “Motherhood” is a personal experience, a story that is inspired by reality, respectively by the experiences of my mother, whilst “Lunela” is a farewell letter to her. My work is about and for her, and the result of this artistic process is a collection of emotions, feelings and inspirations from artists who have used the same theme. The idea of “Motherhood” does not remain only on a personal level in the work but goes beyond this plan and explores the theme in a general sense as well.
The role of contemporary clothing is to be easy-to-wear, but ‘with a twist’, movement and multifunctionality being two main elements to consider. Handmade and tailoring details highlight the uniqueness and personality of the pieces. The shapes vary from organic to sculptural depending on the material, piece, colour, concept. The main purpose of the collection is to create effortless clothes that last over time and suit any type of body.
Also, the multifunctionality of the clothes encourage the creativity of the wearer because it generates new styling variants. The collection embodies softness, sensitivity and movement, a metaphor for the contemporary individual in a situation of continuous uncertainty of trying to find himself.
Although they are in antithesis, the brand manages to combine organic & structure, sensitivity & harshness, thus embracing duality.
CONTACT: https://www.instagram.com/raluc__/
Robert Roca
Robert Roca is a young designer, MA student at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, who made his presence known through feminine and flamboyant outfits, often worn by him at various fashion events, or by various public figures in magazines, shootings, or TV shows.
His first collection launched within the Bachelor program of the National University of Art in Bucharest is inspired by divine entities from Greek mythology, Aphrodite and Himeros. “HIMEROS” is a collection through which Robert wants to assert his flamboyant style through the contrast of feminine outfits worn by male models. The concept of the collection is characterized by soft, feminine elements in powdery shades, meant to exude a magical, fantasy energy.
Robert, through his creations, wants to break the barrier between masculinity and femininity in the field of fashion. These sets of attributes being present in each of us, regardless of the gender assigned at birth. With the “breaking” of this barrier, the prejudices against everyone’s clothing style would disappear.
CONTACT: https://www.instagram.com/robeertr/
Invited Universities
Fashion Design Departments from the Art Universities
On the catwalk in Iasi, in the RFW Platform selection, a group collection from each Fashion Department of the 5 invited universities will be presented: University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca, National University of Arts Bucharest, National University of Arts “George Enescu” Iasi, West University Timisoara and Technical University of Moldova Chisinau.
Innovation, upcycling, de(re)construction, different clothing morphologies, cultural references from the history of costume and fashion history – are elements that will be found in the group collections of the invited universities.
In February 2024, through a ZOOM video-call, a discussion took place, attended by professors from the 5 Fashion Departments, as well as the Romanian Fashion Week team: Irina Schrotter, Ovidiu Buta, Ioana Ciolacu and Lucian Broscățean.
For the 2024 edition of the RFW Platform, in addition to the group collections of the departments, a Call-for-Projects will be organised for BA & MA students from the 5 invited universities – based on the “Couture-à-Porter” concept and references from the History of Fashion (1950s, 1960s) – in partnership with Freudenberg.
The call is launched to BA & MA students by the teaching staff. The professors of the departments will form juries to select 5 finalists who will represent each institution with an outfit that will be part of a group exhibition during the Romanian Creative Week 2024 festival. In Iasi, a jury of fashion industry professionals will choose the winner.
More details about the Call-for-Projects, the Award and the internal selection stages within the departments will be presented in early May through a press release.
Curator
Ioana Ciolacu
Ioana Ciolacu is a contemporary womenswear fashion label from the Romanian designer by the same name. With an MA in Fashion Design and Technology from the prestigious London College of Fashion of University of the Arts London, a graduate of the doctoral school in Ethics and Sustainability in Fashion and with design experience from one of the best international brands – Stella McCartney, Ioana has developed strong understanding of creating high quality clothes and unique designs. With a focus on shape, craftsmanship and sustainability, Ioana takes inspiration from architecture and nature combining signature graphics with tailoring techniques.
Her simple yet tailor inspired silhouettes – gained while training with Savile Row tailors – work as canvases for signature graphics – transposed in prints and embroidery -and fabric combinations that all show a deep understanding of shape, proportion and craftsmanship. Ioana’s effortless pieces show a love for playing with custom developed techniques to create a modern and alluring look.
The brand has been active in the industry for over ten years, during which time it has developed a local production network, had countless projects in terms of sustainability – a concern of the designer and a belief in the possibility of a clean fashion brand. Also, during this time the brand accumulated a number of nominations and awards in the industry, but also managed to have commercial success, collaborating with renowned distributors, today Ioana Ciolacu products being sold in over 80 countries.
Also, together with Lucian Broscățean, Ioana is the curator of RFW Platform.
CONTACT:
www.ioanaciolacu.com
Lucian Broscățean
Fashion design, artistic direction, curation, theatre & opera costumes, teaching – are creative extensions of the brand built by Lucian Broscățean.
With an experience of over 20 years in the fashion industry, Lucian has participated at numerous professional events such as: Romanian Fashion Week – Romanian Creative Week Iași, Romanian Design Week București, TIFF Cluj-Napoca, Mercedes-Benz Berlin Fashion Week, International Fashion Showcase at London Fashion Week, MQ Vienna Fashion Week, and so on.
From 2008 Lucian teaches at UAD Cluj-Napoca, where he is now Head of the Fashion Design Department.
Between 2011-2017 he was the creative director of the irina schrotter brand.
In 2019 he was part of Arts of Fashion’s international jury, the preliminary jury session was organized at the Museum Yves Saint Laurent, in Marrakech, Morocco.
For the 2023 edition of Romanian Design Week Bucharest, he curated the “Fashion” section, next to Julian Roberts și Mari Bendeliani.
Throughout the last two decades, Lucian has won several important awards, such as: “Levintza Presents” – Young Designer Award – a moment that marked his discovery/launch in the fashion industry (2001), Arts of Fashion – “Wendy & Jim + YKK Awards” at MoMa San Francisco (2008), Freudenberg Award at Romanian Fashion Week (2010), Beau Monde magazine’s “Crystal Globe for Best Designer of 2011”, he was nominated 5 times at ELLE Style Awards, in the “Best Designer” category and has won the Award in 2023, and so on.
At Romanian Fashion Week – Romanian Creative Week Iași, together with Ioana Ciolacu, he curates the RFW Platform section.
CONTACT:
www.lucianbroscatean.ro