Two locations, nine young creators and fashion from close proximity. This year’s programme focuses on direct contact with design and opens the topic of the values behind creation. It all starts with a dance performance on Wednesday in the Zlín Castle, and on Friday the main Fashion Show will follow in industrial garages. Instead of classic fashion shows, you will find events that take place right among you, to the rhythm of original music and in movement.
Fashion Performance
The opening ceremony of the festival at Zlín Castle will be accompanied by a Fashion Performance, which was created in cooperation with the Slovak Fashion Council and the LUMÓ project. This cooperation follows on from the Trenčín 2026 – European Capital of Culture project and focuses on sustainability and new forms of presentation. The performance is conceived as a three-phase flowing path that leads the audience from the All you need is design exhibition halls, through the corridors and staircases to the courtyard. The audience thus becomes not a mere observer, but a part of the events that gradually develop around them.
The theme of LOVE is reflected here in the search for a relationship with oneself, with tradition and with the materials that surround us. The entire movement concept was prepared by choreographer Veronika Vlasáková, performing under the name VERA, who gives the whole narrative rhythm and form.
You will see the work of three designers in motion, who approach fashion in their own way. Ema Želinská tests what materials can withstand and what new shapes she can give them. She works mainly with so-called deadstock. These are fabrics or entire pieces of clothing that were once made, but never sold and remained unused in warehouses. Ema gives these things a new chance, combines them with modern 3D printing and creates new models from them.
The venna.studio brand focuses on functionality and variability. Their cuts are mostly oversized, so they are loose and designed to adapt to the wearer’s figure. Each design is created with respect for the material used and is designed for everyday wear.
Zuzana Pecková projects the theme of her own identity into her collections. In her work, she returns to her childhood in the countryside and to working with natural materials such as stones or clay. She mixes these influences with references to traditional Christian clothing. In addition, she prints her own author’s photographs on the fabrics, which capture the story of adolescence and the contrast between childhood innocence and the emotions of adulthood.
Fashion Show
The program continues on Friday, May 9th in the garages of the Faculty of Technology, TBU. This year’s Fashion Show will connect fashion with complete privacy via the catwalk. You will see every moment from close proximity, so the boundaries between you and the designers disappear.
Love is an experience full of tension, differences and tenderness. It is impossible to fully understand it, which is why you will not only see it on the catwalk, but you will truly feel it. The show will gradually reveal itself to you from the first hints to the powerful conclusion. Fashion will thus become a carrier of emotions that you perceive with all your senses. The whole atmosphere will leave you with a personal experience that you will carry with you long after the end.
Štefan Štajer is guided by feelings and strong colors in his work, which is also confirmed by his collection Mojej Milovanej. It is a poetic reflection of human transience, where the dominant blue symbolizes eternity and time acts as a silent observer of shared moments.
The Chrystalis recidiva collection by Dorota Kostelná shows feelings between lightness and decay, and between innocence and peer pressure. It returns to models that have not received attention before, and their re-inclusion is not accidental, but an act of care, acceptance and love for one’s own creation. The entire collection reminds us that even what was born out of pain or once fell can be beautiful again and crystallize again.
Anežka Kabelková combines traditional hand-made products with modern style and in her collection Indians of North America, she reflects the fate of indigenous people in clothing. She combines historical elements with modern streetwear and uses symbolic beads to recall the blood shed and the weight of home.
Zuzana Hliněná focuses on the construction of clothing and various forms of femininity. In the Power-suit collection, she combines 80s aesthetics with BDSM elements, opening up the theme of expressing power through fashion. Her models combine men’s tailoring elements with seductive details, creating a confident silhouette that both covers and emphasizes the body.
Ester Krtičková tests the boundaries between clothing and artwork, with her collection augenblick capturing intimate moments of relationships in a pure black and white aesthetic. She explores the binding nature of fashion and the physical connection that reflects the intimacy of dreams.
In the Labyrinth of Thoughts collection, Mariia Smirnova seeks a balance between freedom and closeness with macramé textile sculptures that respond to the body’s movement. These objects are complemented by dark recycled materials and hand-knitted structures in black and blue. The collection thus changes the view of clothing, where the art object is not just a decoration, but the main bearer of meaning.
The entire lineup is closed by Adéla Černocká, whose jewelry creation organically complements the presented models by Zuzana Hliněná and Dorota Kostelná. Her work, based on experiments with materials and organic forms, goes beyond the role of an accessory and subtly connects the concepts of all collections.
In conclusion, it is clear that you are not just waiting for another fashion event, but an experience that you will not easily forget. If you are tempted to see contemporary Czech and Slovak creation in a different way than from afar and experience it really close up, this is a moment you should not miss.
Come and experience it with us! You can buy tickets for the Fashion Show via smsticket.cz.
