An Abbreviated Guide to Budapest

Four days of food, fashion, and sweat.

Of all the places I expected to travel to this year, I’ll admit that Budapest was definitely a pleasant surprise. The marketing team behind their fashion week reached out to 10 Magazine where I oversee digital and offered an invite for us to come and cover Budapest Central European Fashion Week. Was it crazy to squeeze in a trip right before New York Fashion Week? A bit! I got back on Monday afternoon and I wound up sleeping 16 hours out of sheer exhaustion because I tried to do as much as I could while I was there, both work-wise and tourist-wise. And even then, this guide is still what I’d consider to be abbreviated. After all, can you really see a city with just a few days? I don’t think it’s possible but I sure as hell tried my best.

First a quick geography lesson: the city is divided into two, with the Danube River in the middle. Buda is more hilly and is where you’ll find all of the castles including Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion while Pest is flatter and includes sights like St. Stephen’s Basilica as well as Parliament and the Opera. Connecting the two are bridges, with the most famous being Széchenyi Lánchíd aka The Chain Bridge, built in the 19th century. In my head the city is far north, with cool and crisp weather. Apparently that is all sorts of wrong because whew it was boiling hot there. Thanks to climate change, the temperatures were way above normal — think 90+ degrees with humidity to match. So suffice to say that did put a slight damper in my plans to run around and explore because I’m a wilting flower in the heat. But on my day off, I did get a chance to check out one of Central Europe’s most beautiful cities. I didn’t know what to expect from Budapest or its design talent from the region by the end, I definitely amassed some highlights, so let’s get into it.

The Emerging Talent That Impressed

On my second full day, I attended a slew of shows. One of the first that stood out was MADBYMAD. Designed by Mata Durikovic, a Central Saint Martin’s graduate, the Slovakian brand has already gotten some press from the likes of British Vogue and Vogue Italia. Durikovic describes her brand as bioluxury, meaning that she uses materials that are completely sustainable. The fabrics included upcycled yarns, recycled Swarovski crystals, and a leather replacement material that can be composted. As a die-hard Simone Rocha fan, this gave me the same girlie with an edge energy. I especially loved the handbag shown — in person it was delicate and sparkly. Definitely a talent that felt very much in line with my tastes.

Another surprise was Victoria Wang. She’s still a student but I was definitely not expecting a Chinese designer to show up on this runway. Her collection was inspired by Mingwei Lee’s Our Labyrinth performance at the Tate Museum in London. Lee in turn was inspired by his trip to Myanmar and his piece consists of two dancers create waves from piles of rice. Wang pairs the creamy white waves seen in Lee’s work with the red seen in Burmese monk robes for her designs. As someone who’s mother is ethnic Chinese by way of Burma/Myanmar, it resonated personally with me. Granted Wang’s designs require some development and refining, but seeing my two cultures combined in these undulating creations was something I didn’t think I’d see in Budapest of all places.

Left: Marko Feher, Right: Jackob Buczynski

Upcycling was a big trend and two designers that did it in innovative ways were Bosnia and Herzegovinia’s Marko Potkozarac, with his label Marko Feher on the left as well as Poland’s Jackob Buczynski on the right. For Potkozarac, the pieces were the result of a call-to-action that the designer put out on Instagram. He asked his followers to send unwanted jackets, shirting, and suiting. The overwhelming response resulted in a zero waste collection that featured innovative takes on tailoring. This black-and-white floral print reminded me a bit of Prada’s spring 2013 collection, in the best way possible. As for Buczynski, he got his materials from the Polish sorting center, Wtórpol. This black-and-white leather patchwork look was really interesting, with all of the belts that flopped out from the sides.