By Linda Bezos
Day Two of the Mercedes-Benz Prague fashion week brought out the heavy guns. From the avant-garde charms of IMRECZEOVA to the polished aesthetics of Nehera to the whimsical functional wear of Mi, had the runways soaked in class and elegance.
IMRECZEOVA is the brainchild of Zdeňka Imreczeová, who by all measures is one of our favorite fashion designers coming out of the Czech circuit. What makes her special is her ability to infuse seemingly casual mechanics of prevailing fashion into a form of avant-garde artistry. Her SS18 collection has those elements entrenched into the DNA of the collection. But instead of repeating what has worked for her so far, she takes an assured step towards more commercially viable wear. If her previous collections were the offspring of an overwhelming avant-garde and functionality, then this collection is the offspring of elegance and functionality. The infused sense of avant-garde is still there but this added layer of commercialization of aesthetics makes the collection a polished and mature one. Of all the designers who have shown at MBPFW, Zdeńka's work shows a consistently upward trajectory, and that is great news for Czech fashion as you need creative people to break into markets beyond the realm of Czech fashion.
Samuel Drira's Nehera, on the other hand, is already a massive player within the Czech market and loved in the Parisian circuit. So it was no surprise that Nehera's collection came out as global, relentless in its pursuit of dominance. Nehera knows what works all across the board for women and came out with a collection that retooled the classic color patterns that would sell in Copenhagen as much as in Paris. And that is a hard thing to pull off. From basic deconstructed shirts to casually elegant jumpsuits made the runways in basic tones and provided a solid account for what Nehera has done so far...which is to eliminate distractions and focus on functionality with a sense of poise and elegance. The organized chaos or the harmonious imbalance is still firmly rooted in Drira's work but with each collection, Nehera has become the torch bearer for the Czech-Slovak market.
Mi Fashion Label (MFL) is an unknown quantity in many ways for the foreign press as the brand has only existed since 2014. The design team of Lenka Mulabegovic has the youthful exuberance of a newer brand but none of the follies that come with it. As assured as any other brand on the runway MFL exhibited a certain clarity in terms of expressing its sense of aesthetics generally equated with much older brands. The creativity exhibited by Lenka's team with the introduction of prints on delicately tailored and at times deconstructed silhouettes made for a sensational treat for the eyes. The most formidable part of this relatively new brand is the singular attention given to each look which may very well be a product of working in a made to tailor environment. This sort of personal details makes every single look unitary in their expression though that may become a bit tiring if you are looking for a singular narrative. Overall this relatively new brand shows enough promise to suggest that it is moving in the right direction and a comprehensive and cohesive narrative is right around the corner. In many ways, MFL embodies all the elements that would make the brand bloom into a real power hitter and what we are seeing is the foundational collection of a brand on the move.
