MARIE CLAIRE FASHION DAYS: THE THICK OF IT

Part of the point - a large part, in fact - of attending events is to tell about them. I'm breaking no news today, but the events of this autumn/winter season are still well worth a retrospective. The Marie Claire Fashion Days Budapest 2013 was the one where I arrived as a guest-slash-common-visitor, swanned about happily, then got scared, interviewed cool designer Dora Abodi about the story of her brand and the recent investment set to take her to the next level, and watched some live shows.

THE VERDICT

The Marie Claire Fashion Days have been a regular fix on the fashion agenda for five years now. When the Paris ready-to-wear shows end and the style throng disperses to check on legions of abandoned kids/husbands/boyfriends/pets (just take your pick), enters the more local fun to keep us on our (mind you, stylishly flat-shoe-clad) feet. And fun it is. The MCFD event deserves a huge thumbs-up for the way it buzzes with activity. There's presentations, ready-to-wear shows, a taste of the work of local and international fashion college students, talks, workshops, the whole bit, and you're smack in the middle of the action. The designer line-up showing their respective s/s 2014 or resort collections reflects a clear philosophy: besides the most established international brands, there's an ocean of young designers and brands out there, jostling for recognition - why not get a feel of our own surroundings and discover local talent before they are snapped up by big fashion houses, global retailers and the A-list? And what did I think? I thought there was clearly a lot of potential.

THE LINE-UP

The "New Generation":

Artista, Daniel Benus, Dora Abodi, Dori Tomcsanyi, Elysian, Enjey, Konsanszky, Nora Sarman, NUBU, TheFour.

The "Future Generation":

Annaeva, Celeni, Daige, Es-tu un Ange?, Imogen, Kele Clothing, Kitin, Komod, Mei Kawa, Zako, Zigi, and Zoe Phobic.

Guest designers:

Graduate year fashion students Seung-Yeon Jee, Juliana Siqueira, Luca Castrezzati, Xiao-Li and Yin Yi of the Royal College of Art, the Kingston University London, and the Istituto Marangoni London.

To catch the vibe, just keep scrolling down.

THE JOB

Meanwhile, the planned interview with Dora Abodi got on its way in record time, but due to a fatal technical glitch, I ended up having to re-shoot the whole thing. However, this piece of baptism by fire of fashion journalism (only in your mind, young padawan) definitely added to the thrill before a well-deserved flute of the bubbly.

First round: the team are setting up with Dora

Naturally, no one is left to document the real thing, the second round.