*English version below
Наші європейські колаборації активно розвиваються та набувають нових форм. Цього року студенти UFEG дебютували на Feeric Fashion Week, де показали незламність українців, втілену в колекції «Cyber Angels. Survived», яка вижила в нашій зруйнованій школі у Харкові.
Румунська команда гостинно зустріла наших випускників і зробила все, щоб ми дійсно відчули гасло події — #feelfeeric. Познайомившись із талановитими румунськими fashion-діячами, ми вирішили глибше дослідити те, як розвивається масштабна подія в місті Сібіу, що підтримує молодих дизайнерів не тільки з Румунії, а й інших європейських країн.
Віце-президентка Feeric Fashion Week Ландіана Серчу поспілкувалася з засновницею UFEG Мариною Лосєвою та нашою викладачкою Тетяною Мироновою.
Читайте інтерв’ю нижче або дивіться на нашому YouTube-каналі.
Our European collaborations are actively evolving and taking on new forms. This year, UFEG students debuted at the largest Fashion Week in Eastern Europe, showcasing the resilience of Ukrainians embodied in the «Cyber Angels. Survived» collection, which remained intact in our destroyed school in Kharkiv.
The Romanian team warmly welcomed our graduates and did everything to make us truly #feelfeeric. After meeting with talented Romanian fashion figures, we decided to delve deeper into how this large-scale event in Sibiu is developing, supporting young designers from Romania and other European countries.
Landiana Cerciu, the Vice President of Feeric Fashion Week, talked with UFEG founder Maryna Loseva and our teacher Tetiana Myronova.
Maryna: We were very pleased with your hospitality, your team, and the main idea of your work. That’s why we decided to talk about you and Feeric Fashion Week more.
Landiana: Thank you for the opportunity and for accepting our invitation. I believe that if we all put our efforts in common, we can help change the industry, which has had some struggles. So I think we started a very good collaboration.
Maryna: Yes, I hope that together we can do something very important for the industry and the world in general. But first, let’s talk about you. You’re so young and already you are the vice president of the greatest fashion week in Eastern Europe. You’re an editor of «Schön! Magazine». It really surprised me. And you’re involved in several very serious fashion projects. What about your background? How did it become possible?
Landiana: If you think I’m young now, wait until you hear that I started when I was 13. I entered the fashion industry and fell in love with it. But I always wanted to do more.
I began working as a model. I was traveling the world, I made a lot of connections, and got to see how the fashion industry is, but mostly from in front of the camera. But I always wanted to be in the back of the camera where the hard work takes place. That’s my field. I like to have a voice in the industry.
Being a model helped me establish all these connections and travel the world. But then I started to work in Feeric because I’m originally from Sibiu, where FFW takes place. Mitichi, the president of Feeric Fashion Week, invited me to be a part of the event. He saw that I like to work a lot. In the first year, he assigned me some small tasks, such as taking care of the models and serving as the casting director. Year after year, he upgraded my responsibilities and position, moving me from casting director to backstage coordinator. In the end, I was named the vice president. They say hard work pays off, and it sure does.
While working on the project with the team, we began developing other ideas to change the fashion industry for the better. We all think the same. We aim not only to provide designers with fashion shows but also to offer them comprehensive opportunities. That’s why we also started MODIC, an international fashion magazine, to enhance exposure for designers. FFW is like an octopus. It developed a lot of other projects, like the fashion magazine. Also, we wanted to strengthen the business side. Every designer is interested in exposing and showcasing their work, but at the end of the day, they want to sell. Everybody wants to sell their work.
There are a lot of talented emerging designers who are still students or have small fashion brands. They have the chance to be known by the public. We said, okay, let’s also offer this exposure to them to sell. But then the struggle came because we didn’t want to be another e-commerce. We are aiming to do things sustainably as much as we can. What’s happening with this platform is that consumers, who wish to buy items from designers creating sustainable fabrics or unique innovations, can receive discounts by exchanging their vintage clothes.
Maryna: An amazing idea!
Landiana: By buying something, you are investing in young talent. We offer a 20% discount when you contribute 5 kilograms of old clothes that you no longer wear — we all have those pieces hidden away in the back of our wardrobe, untouched. With the clothes we receive from customers, we’ve developed a brand — an upcycling fashion brand named Hooldra, which you may have seen showcased at Feeric Fashion Week. So, it’s circular. We aim to educate not only designers but also consumers. After all, they go hand in hand.
So, yeah, that’s how I started. As for being the editor of «Schön!» and also the editor-in-chief of MODIC magazine, it’s all because of my love for writing. I studied journalism.
Maryna: Really?
Landiana: Yeah, I graduated in journalism in Sibiu.
Maryna: Wow!
Landiana: That’s how my activity started. My team suggested, «Ok, we are doing so many things, and you are traveling a lot, let’s put everything in a blog». That’s when my social media accounts, like Instagram, started gaining popularity as people became interested in my activities. I was writing about the fashion weeks in Milan, London, and Paris.
It’s all connected. I’m lucky to be able to do what I love in the industry that I love in any field.
Maryna: Thank you so much. And it was so unpredictable about journalism. I’m impressed with your way in general, but journalism especially.
Tanya, finally, I know who we have to invite for fashion communication lectures for fashion students.
Tetiana: By the way, that might be a good idea!
Maryna: Yes, I think it’s necessary to organize international lectures for our students on the UFEG platform. Often students don’t fully understand the importance of effective communication with magazines. They don’t know how to write, how to be interesting to editors-in-chief, and so on.
Landiana: Yeah, we have already visited all the universities in Romania and have also begun to visit Bulgaria and Greece. We would like to cover all our areas of interest, visiting universities to meet the students and invest our resources in their development. We recognize that there are lots of talented designers, but they need to be educated young. This is especially true in the post-pandemic era, where many promising designers may be losing their way. Because they wake up and say: «Oh, I want to be the next John Galliano».
Maryna: But time has changed!
Landiana: They don’t understand all the steps. I always say that if you want to be a designer, you need to let people do their jobs like marketing and accounting, so you can focus on creativity and have a fashion brand. But if you’re doing it all, you’re going to lose the passion. I’ve seen so many fashion brands gone during the pandemic. They went to work for Zara, H&M and they gave up everything. So I think we need to invest more in the education of these students because they’re going to be the future generation of designers that maybe will change the industry.
Maryna: This knowledge and capabilities are priceless to them. And how long does Feeric Fashion Week exist?
Landiana: Feeric started 16 years ago. It was just a one-day event. We began in the small square of Sibiu, and it was initially a one-night event with local designers showcasing. Year after year, it started to develop and grow. After its seventh edition, it gained international popularity, attracting many international designers to showcase in Feeric because of what they were offering, including unique locations that you’ve seen.
Maryna: Yes, very beautiful places. Amazing!
Landiana: If you go to Fashion Week in London, Milan, or Paris, they might recreate a forest in a factory, but it’s still a factory. Then the show is over, and you’re running to another place. So, we wanted to offer a real experience by taking the public to a proper forest and giving them the feeling that it’s not just a fashion show. You should explore the place, create synergies, stay with the people there, discover the beauty around you, and feel like you’re part of the fashion show — not just a robot taking pictures for social media.
We were using resources that the city had to offer and year after year we were coming up with more crazy locations that were not common for a fashion show, like an airport, train platform, or lake. The models were coming with the boats. Everything was unique because we wanted to also offer this experience to guests and designers. This also got the attention of the international press which named us the most creative week in the world.
Tetiana: If we talk about the team that works on organizing the whole event, I can imagine how big it is. Can you tell us a little bit about this? How many people are involved? And is it difficult for you to manage this huge team of people? And maybe what’s the most difficult?
Landiana: There are around 200 people on the Feeric Fashion Week team. Some of them work from one edition to the next as we all strive to find ways to improve and grow each year in terms of quality and the shows we produce.
We focus on creating something exceptional for our fashion week. With more than 20 different outdoor and indoor locations, we also work with people who are not part of the core team but collaborate with us throughout the year. So, there are more than 200 professionals.
Our fashion week is also unique in terms of the experience. We even coined the hashtag #feelfeeric because everyone comes for the feeling. People from various fields, like telecommunications, who have nothing to do with the fashion industry, are so involved in our project that they take three days off from their jobs just to be there. They develop a love for the fashion industry and want to be a part of it. It’s a massive undertaking, I’m not going to lie.
We started to work for the 2024 edition before 2023 was taking place. Because there are always things that we want to improve and there are always new ideas, especially now when we want to go more in the educational side. You already know about Feeric Fashion Hub and its goals. Our mission is to change the perspectives of both creators and markets to make them meet in a balanced context.
Maryna: Who and how can participate in Feeric Fashion Week?
Landiana: Let me make a short introduction of Feeric Fashion Hub so you will understand.
The failing economy and poor education could easily lead to chaos. People’s priorities change, and it becomes harder for creative individuals to prevail over basic needs. Young and experimental creators are the most affected. That’s why we created this hub; we want to offer them our support and consulting for a smoother entry into the industry as well as a cleaner and faster strategy establishment.
All our data, resources, and expertise will be at the disposal of Feeric Fashion Hub members. Within the project, we have a production company, a media conglomerate, and a consulting PR agency. We’ve established a global network of PhD holders and highly qualified professionals, all committed to educating these students. The Feeric Fashion Hub, initiated to make industry changes within three years, aims to influence significant territories such as Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Balkans. In the first year, we successfully established contact with these resources in more than 20 countries.
To support these students, we are going to organize shows for the universities involved in our project. With over 300 universities, we aim to identify individual students or collective groups that we can invest in. We are offering them the show and all our resources because they are part of our Feeric Fashion Hub.
Also, there are some packages for designers that want to showcase in Feeric Fashion Week. There are two options. If you are a student and a member of the Feeric Fashion Hub we are working together through our educational program. If you’re an independent designer, you can purchase a package. This package includes the show and the exposure we offer — more than just the runway, it encompasses editorials, interviews, articles, press coverage, and more.
Maryna: It looks amazing. On the one hand, 16 years is a lot of years. But on the other hand, a huge job is already done, and a lot of plans ahead. Speaking about today, what do you think is the biggest achievement you and your team are proud of?
Landiana: I believe that we hold influence here, and with that strength comes responsibility. We are committed to our investment in changing the industry. Our hard work, as mentioned earlier, is paying off.
There are a lot of things that we have done over the years such as becoming the first fashion week that signed with the Humane Society International which is aiming to ban the use of fur. The brand that we developed, Hooldra, is part of this initiative which is also huge for us. We would like to be as sustainable as possible. We are proud of every addition that we are making and the fact that it’s growing year after year.
Maryna: If you could give a message to inspire young designers, what would it be?
Landiana: Come and #feelfeeric!
I would encourage them to understand that there is a lot of work, and if they’re willing to put in the effort, there’s a place for anyone in this industry. Education is key to success. This applies to all aspects of the fashion industry — designers, professionals, and consumers alike. We all need education.
Tetiana: Are there any other projects or maybe initiatives that you are planning to undertake or what are the plans for the next Feeric Fashion Week?
Landiana: We want to have all these spectacular locations and to make it even bigger, like even more shows and designers, because they all deserve a chance to showcase their work.
Maryna: Whenever I listen to you, I understand how it’s really to change the world if you believe and work hard.
