Aalto’s fashion design very much present during Helsinki New Fashion Seminar

Next week, from 15 to 21 May, the Fashion in Helsinki event will be held and Aalto University’s fashion creators will be very much present to show off their skills. The week starts on Monday 15 May. The opening ceremony of the collaborative project between Aalto University and Nanso will be held from 17.00 to 18.00 at the Nanso Shop, Mikonkatu 2.

On Tuesday 16 May, the Helsinki New Fashion Seminar will bring several of fashion’s top international names to Helsinki City Hall, such as the Director of Communication Dries van Noten’s Patrick Scallon, Creative Director MSGM’s Massimo Giorgetti and the Spanish top promise Alejandro Palomo, who designs the Palomo Spain range of men’s clothes as well as Coco Capitan, who photographs the Gucci and Paco Rabanne campaigns among others. The seminar programme and guest speakers will be curated by Aalto University.

Department of Design’s Näytös17 on Wednesday 17 May. This year, the work of some twenty students will be on show in the Cable Factory’s Merikaapelihalli (Tallberginkatu 1). Aalto University’s fashion show has traditionally attracted international head-hunters who recruit the most interesting designers directly from the catwalk. International media present at the event include i-D, Dazed and Vogue Italia. A presentation Maria Korkeila’s collection which won a prize at Hyères, was organised during the event for invited guests.

The Critical is the New Black: Fashion in the 21st Century seminar taps into the discussions surrounding fashion and asks whether fashion can be social commentary and criticism rather than just consumerism? How can fashion build a better tomorrow given the cultural, political and climate related challenges we face? The seminar will take place in the EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art (Ahertajantie 5) on Thursday 18 May.

The Helsinki New Fashion Seminar will finish on 21 May. Aalto fashion show in Shanghai. The show is part of the Suomi100 events organised in collaboration with Donghua University and Finland’s consulate in Shanghai.

Valuable collaboration and international success

‘With their overwhelming fashion success, Aalto University and its talented students have gathered other players around them wonderfully. In collaboration with Helsinki New, the Fashion Seminar has expanded to become a whole day seminar which focuses on branding and the creation of an image from the perspective of the media and designers. How the talent and creativity of the young can be commercialised is now the priority’, says Pirjo Hirvonen, Fashion Professor at Aalto University.

‘The main players in the sector are now with us and this has recently accelerated the internationalisation and success of Finnish fashion. The Fashion in Helsinki event is an excellent opening to make this happen. With a courageous, creative attitude and good collaboration we are reforming the whole of the Finnish fashion sector and getting ready for success!’ states Pirjo Hirvonen.

This spring has been full of success for the fashion students. Aalto University’s young designers continue to be successful around the world. This year, Maria Korkeila was awarded the Schiaparelli Prize at one of the most important international fashion competitions at the Hyerès Fashion Festival, and in February a Finn took third place at the Designers Nest competition. Heidi Karjalainen was awarded second place at the Apolda European Design Award competition in Germany. Graduating students have been recruited by fashion houses such as Saint Laurent, Kenzo, Isabel Marant and Ann Demeulemeester. Aalto University was ranked 7 in the CEOWORLD magazine’s international rankings of fashion schools. A total of 110 international schools are included on the list. Aalto’s fashion design has achieved a high international level.