Working on branding Serbia as a fashion destination would certainly generate results in many segments
Just after the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion (FHCM) accepted only the Serbian and Portuguese Fashion Week as part of their official programme, we spoke with Svetlana Horvat, president of Serbia Fashion Week, who told us about the importance of the FHCM’s decision for Serbian fashion, its popularity in the global fashion circles and the huge potential for branding our country through fashion.
What is the power of fashion as a communication channel in the context of country branding, given that you even held a conference on this topic in the National Assembly?
The fact that fashion is a powerful communication channel has long been undisputed in the world. Serbia should recognize the development opportunities that branding through fashion can provide. Nation branding generally refers to a country’s strategy to convey a certain image of itself beyond its borders to achieve certain goals. Branding a country improves its image and reputation, thus enabling it to attract foreign direct investments. At the same time, it makes the country a recognizable destination for tourism and commerce. Branding a nation entails presenting a country to create a reputation by promoting the country’s cultural, economic and social life abroad.
A few years ago, in cooperation with Color Media Communications, we held a conference titled “National Branding by Fashion” in the Republic of Serbia’s Parliament, covering this very topic. National and international marketing and media experts, ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps in our country spoke at the conference. We heard how France and Italy branded their countries through fashion and what results did they generate from that.
The project of branding Serbia entails having a state-level strategy and serious engagement at the highest level, involving top experts from various state and non-governmental organizations. Serbia’s visibility on a global scale is enhanced by successful public figures, top-quality, authentic products and festivals related to tourism, culture and art in general. Serbia Fashion Week has created an image of Serbia as an urban and modern environment. Working on branding Serbia as a fashion destination would certainly generate results in many segments, starting from tourism and economy through to foreign investments, culture and politics.
How powerful is fashion as a communication channel, regardless of a specific topic or context?
Along with sports and music, fashion is the most powerful communication channel globally. Fashion weeks around the world are at the centre of media interest. Most important fashion weeks and advertising campaigns of multinational brands from the fashion, beauty and lifestyle industries send out the most diverse advertising messages. The power of fashion as a communication channel can be illustrated in the example of Paris Fashion Week, of which Serbia Fashion Week has become an integral part. This is one of the most covered events media-wise in France. Due to its high visibility, it is understandable why global premium brands from all industrial segments choose to promote themselves at fashion events. Likewise, numerous countries promote their tourism potential, cultural heritage and economic resources at fashion events.
Thanks to the Welcome to Paris programme, from now on, we will represent Serbia at Paris Fashion Week every year
Serbia being represented in the official programme of the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion (FHCM) is a historic event for Serbian fashion. How did you manage to do that?
For the FHCM to bestow us with this honour and allow us to become its integral part is a historically important event for Serbia and its fashion. This is a huge validation of our work and accomplished quality. The FHCM’s decision to officially take Serbia Fashion Week under its wing has been one of the main topics of conversation in France’s fashion circles and is a U-turn in further positions of SFW worldwide. Considering that this oldest and most prestigious fashion association in the world has chosen SFW to take under its auspices will mean the great promotion of Serbia and will open the door for the development and establishment of new collaborations and projects for our fashion designers.
For the first time in its history, the FHCM opened its doors and chose two countries – Serbia and Portugal – and their fashion weeks, which met the strict criteria of the FHCM multi-year monitoring, to include in the Paris Fashion Week’s official programme. Thanks to the Welcome to Paris programme, from now on, we will represent Serbia at Paris Fashion Week every year. We have had two Frenchmen in our management since the very inception of SFW. One is a renowned fashion designer from France, costume designer and artistic director of the Paris and Berlin fashion fairs, Mr Eymeric Francois, and the other is Mr Donald Potard, who helmed the Jean Paul Gaultier fashion house for 25 years. Over the past 11 years, their contribution to raising the quality of SFW has been immeasurable. Precisely because of this synergy, SFW is known for its title – Serbian Design with a Taste of France – in the international community.
This is certainly a crucial moment for the further development of SFW. Until now, we had positioned ourselves (in the international professional and media public) as the most important fashion event in South-Eastern Europe, while now we are ranked among the most important and influential fashion events in the world.
Did Portugal and Serbia recognize the importance of their participation in the official programme of the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion (FHCM) through the Welcome to Paris programme at Paris Fashion Week for their respective countries’ branding, especially in fashion, tourism and economy?
We should utilize the fact that the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion accepted only the Serbian and Portuguese fashion weeks as part of their official programme in the proper way. Portugal financially backed the presentation of its designers, recognizing the great capacity of global communications during PFW, both for the country’s branding and attracting foreign investments in the textile industry and tourism.
After carefully observing the quality of our designers, L Appart, a Paris-based communications agency, expressed its intention to support global communications and the presentation of Serbian fashion under the auspices of the FHCM programme. The agency has been working with the Portuguese government for a number of years on preparing Portugal’s presentation as a fashion destination. We definitely need to devise a national promotion strategy when it comes to this project. Institutions dealing with the promotion and branding of our country, as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, should support the presentation of our designers and fashion companies. This is already being done very successfully in the winemaking sector and we can see how successful the wine industry and wine tourism have been. Now is the right time to do this, because this year, Serbia is at the centre of global attention fashion-wise and we should not miss this opportunity to promote our country.
This year, Serbia is at the centre of global attention fashion-wise
You are the first Serbian woman to give a lecture about Serbian fashion to Sorbonne students. What did you convey to them and what topic were students particularly interested in when it comes to Serbian fashion?
Yes, it was a great honour and even a greater experience to give a lecture at Sorbonne University. The lecture was about the current situation in the Serbian fashion industry, i.e. about the intersection of capacities, markets and development opportunities in this sector. The second part of the lecture was about Serbian Fashion Week, which they already knew a lot about. After the lecture, the students were interested in many things related to Serbia Fashion Week – for instance, how such a large European brand was created in just 5 to 6 years, what are the project’s functioning mechanisms, whether and how it affects the development of the fashion industry in Serbia, how it affects on tourism and income in that sector, how we managed to bring Fendi, Gucci and Mugler to Serbia, etc. Of course, there were a lot of questions that were not related to fashion, but to various aspects of work and life in our country.
Last year, I also held several lectures at the University of Arts, London. I was particularly pleased that after the first lecture in front of London students, I was invited to hold a set of related additional lectures at the request and insistence of those students.
I had a fantastic experience lecturing at both universities, because talking to students, who are eager to research and gather new knowledge, gives me great pleasure.
What are the next steps in your work?
A lot of travel related to the presentation of Serbian designers under the auspices of the partnership fashion weeks (31 partnership agreements worldwide) awaits me. First, I will be travelling to Malta, then to the United Arab Emirates, followed by Milan Fashion Week, then fashion weeks in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Berlin… In parallel, we are already preparing the autumn editions of Serbia Fashion Week, which will be held from September 21 to 25 in Novi Sad and we expect a large number of foreign guests and journalists to attend. Of course, the registration process and the preparation for our next presentation at Paris Fashion Week will soon begin.