On Saturday, 2nd July and on Sunday, 3rd July took place the third edition of the fashion festival Pasarela, organised by the French Embassy and the French Institute in Bucharest. This year, the festival was dominated by the young creation and by the academic and professional cooperation in the field of fashion. Among the guests, there were important personalities from the French Institute of Fashion, such as Sylvie Ebel and Francine Pairon, young talent finder, as well as the jewellery designer Philippe Airaud and Pascal Morand, Director of the Superior Commerce School.
The new element of this edition was initiating the contest Pasarela Access.
This appeared following the proposition made by the jury after the second edition of the festival, in 2009, when they noticed the emerging position of contemporary jewellery in the Romanian fashion.
After choosing from 9 candidates participating at the contest Pasarela Access , Mona Velciov, the jewellery designer that will visit the product design brands in Paris, organised by the French Institute of Fashion in Paris, and the laureate Espoir Mode 2011 is Ovidiu Pop, from the Art University Cluj Napoca, who will receive a one year long scholarship for studying at the same institution.
The tour de force took place on three floors of the MNAC Annex on Calea Moşilor. After the official opening, at whom the French Ambassador Henri Paul, the Artistic Director of the festival, Philippe Guilet de Saint Mart, Stanislas Pierret, Director of the French Institute and Mihai Oroveanu, Director of MNAC, have spoken, the Espoir Mode contest-show began.
The installation-accessories contest Pasarela Access, conducted by Dan Piersinaru, was open for the whole weekend. The participant accessories designers were: Angi Apostol, Raluca Buzura, Ileana Danci, Andra Lupu, Ana Marchetanu, Ioana Matei, Mona Velciov, Romana Țopescu and Mihaela Zvîncă who had full freedom of presenting their work in the shape of a contemporary art installation.
It wasn’t an easy decision for the jury. The uniqueness and expressivity of the installations created by the designers challenged intense debates among the jury. The winner Mona Velciov is from Iaşi, where she has also studied the School of Fine Arts, and her experience as a graphic designer is noticeable in her accessories collection. Her installation “Monotype” impressed the jury through a rhythm of mirrors different in shape and functionality, through which her jewellery is reflected at the same time with the viewer.
“I use as a prime material artefacts borrowed from the traditional culture, which have nowadays become museum items, as they testify for a long-gone social paradigm. The working process is as detailed and delicate as the one of an orfèvre. I pour in baroque forms, of “crown jewels” the humble material which I extract from its original function” , states the designer Mona Velciov.
The jury of both contests was made of French and Romanian fashion specialists.
Sylvie Ebel, Vice General Director of the French Fashion Institute (IFM), Karine Piotraut, Recruitment Director of IFM, Pascal Morand, Director of Ecole Superieure de Commerce Paris – Europe (ESCP Europe), one of the most important European business schools, Francine Pairon, fashion energiser and Philippe Airaud, « couture » jewellery designer, and representing the Romanian half, there were: Ruxandra Demetrescu, chancellor of the Bucharest National Arts University (UNARTE), Ioana Avram, UNARTE lecturer in Fashion, Elena Basso Stănescu, professor at Universitatea de Artă şi Design in Cluj Napoca and Ovidiu Buta, stylist and fashion critic.
The Pasarela Fashion Festival is organised by the French Embassy in Romania and the French Institute Bucharest, under the artistic guidance of Philippe Guilet de Saint Mart and in collaboration with the French Fashion Institute in Paris. The aim of the festival is to promote the creations of Romanian designers both in Bucharest and Paris and to bring the Romanian audience closer to the values of the French fashion industry.