Everything indicates that this year's Fashion and Amber Gala will be quite different from previous ones. This is precisely the aim of the new artistic director, who has become fashion designer and participant and organiser of numerous fashion shows, Michal Starost. So what can we expect? „I won't reveal the details or I'll spoil the surprise,” Michal Starost insists. Eventually, however, he lets out the shroud of secrecy in order to at least give us some insight into the atmosphere of the „new” gala. „My main goal was to find a new place where a minimum 20-metre catwalk could be set up. And I found one in the Gdansk Shipyard Centre - it will be 30 metres long,” he says. - he says. As a result, the first row will be 60 metres long and the VIP area will take up 300 of the total 800 seats. As many as 60 models will take part in the nine designers„ show to ensure that the whole thing is dynamic without ”form over substance".
Whose outfits and jewellery will they be presenting? Designers already known from previous editions of the gala, but also brand new ones. They will be the following design teams: Emilia Jankowska & Marcin Tomaszewski, Mirka Dworak & Radek Szwed, Joanna Weyna & Danuta Kruczkowska, Irina Panichova & Danka Czapnik, Michal Starost & S&A, UFUFU & Eva Stone, Alicja Archimionek & Art7, Magdalena Arłukiewicz & Aleksander Gliwinski and as special guests - present at the gala since its first edition - Jola Słoma& Mirek Trymbulak from Paulina Binek. A huge variety of collections and styles - all to „maintain the pace and drama of the event”. As the new artistic director admits, the criterion for selecting the fashion and jewellery designers he has chosen (6 out of 9) is „diversity, originality and openness”. There will be an organic collection, a medieval-inspired collection, an ethnic collection - each designer will bring something interesting and, above all, something different.
„Jewellery without fashion does not function, it is such an icing on the cake,” says Michal Starost. And he adds: „I want to show new faces of jewellery, mobilise designers to even greater creativity. I want to make them realise that jewellery is supposed to be, above all, a fashionable addition to an outfit, and not the result of a designer's ‘joyful creation’. He is no stranger to the subject of jewellery - including its design and manufacture - as many years ago, in one of the workshops in Sopot, he explored the secrets of the goldsmith's profession. He also knows the answer to the question that troubles many jewellery designers and manufacturers as to why we see so little ornamentation on the fashion catwalks: ”Fashion designers often fear that jewellery will dominate their creations. Also because it is often, unfortunately, not completely in line with fashion trends.„.
But this is not the end of the changes. The organisers of this year's gala are currently in talks with the national media - both television and fashion magazines - through which the shots from the Gdansk catwalk would promise Poland. Meanwhile, the guests of the Fashion and Amber Gala will be able to exchange hot impressions at the After Look Party. And Michal Starost says that these are not all the changes he would like to surprise the gala's audience with - this year and next.
The Fashion and Amber Gala has accompanied the Amberif International Fair of Amber, Jewellery and Gemstones since its inception. It is not only a venue for the presentation of fashion and jewellery, but also a source of inspiration for designers, manufacturers and fashion lovers.
Tickets for the Amberif Fashion and Amber Gala should be ordered from the Amberif organiser.
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Because I really like amber... - an interview with Michal Starost