Thursday 22 October 2009

FWA and the absence of HFDA

(screenshot from Christos Costarellos website)
The previous post was nothing but a declaration of surprise for the absence of the Hellenic Fashion Designers Association from the FWA schedule. The official PR office of the event happily gave answers to my questions. However, I had to have an answer from the hfda too. Designer Christos Costarellos, currently the president of the association was available to answer the very same question for me: why is the hfda not participating?

The reply was very clear. The hfda did not come to an agreement on certain issues with the company organising the event, therefore decided not to participate. Such issues were financial as well as ethical. By no means are they boycotting the event and any member who wishes to participate is free to do so. It was made clear that this is not an hfda official event, but a fashion event organised by a productions company.

The designers are fully ready to show for s/s 10 and some are already holding their own private shows these days. Putting together a joined event though requires a number of sponsors that was not achieved this season. The hfda felt that if they are going to do it, they will do it right, hopefully in the near future.

In the question why there was no official announcement made, the answer was that unless this fashion week was an official event of the hfda they cannot announce anything as a whole. Each member is free to take their own decisions as to what is best to attend for their name and business.

Fair enough.

3 comments:

Thalia said...

fair enough indeed...at least are questions were kind of answered....thanks for posting and letting us know!

Lopi said...

Very nice of him to take the time and answer all these questions. I get what he's saying, as I'm a fan of the "if you ain't gonna do it it right, better not do it at all" approach too. But still, this whole situation is not giving greek fashion a good name. The HFDA knew they were having organizational problems since before the LAST fashion week. Shouldn't they have tried and solved them by now?

the1015lab said...

I agree with lopi, but I will be bitter and mean and say that this kind of strucks me as an excuse! This is supposed to be an institution that should be supported even if it has flaws, because with a strong fashion week, everyone involved with fashion will benefit! This is my opinion though, without knowing any "backstage" info, so maybe everyone has his reasons for participating or not!