Budapest is becoming a European hotspot for young urban design. Although the city does not organise an international fashion week yet, it has proved to be fertile ground for free creative talents with a potential for innovation. Piroshka is a fashion brand between present and past, between development and tradition, between Berlin and Budapest. We spoke with the creative blonde Anna Hegedűs, who is the face behind the clothes of the Puszta-romance style.
Hegedűs feels torn between two worlds. One part of her longs for the multicultural, pulsing life of the German capital where she grew up, the other part is full of romantic sentiment towards her Hungarian heritage. This is the cultural schizophrenia that the designer born in East Berlin with a Hungarian heart of paprika expresses in her collections.
You would promptly recognise a Piroshka creation on the street from the combination of the strikingly bright colours. Indigo blue and fiery paprika red attract the attention to printed trousers, dresses and jackets with folk motifs.
Red has a special meaning for the young fashion brand. According to Hegedűs, the colour that is called piros in Hungarian, and appears as such also in the brand name, is the constant brand characteristic of all the actual and coming Piroshka collections. The unique style of the designer is also visible in the original selection and combination of heavy materials including leather and fur, and the beautiful details of the materials that are designed partly by her own hands.
Many associate the brand name with the popular German post-war classic film “I Often Think of Piroschka”. It calls up pictures of Puszta romance and the charming actress Lilo Pulver, who enchanted us with the most beautiful Hungarian costume at the Corn Festival. Even if this explanation seems likely at the first look, in reality the name of the brand is a tribute to Anna’s Hungarian grandmother, Piroska.
“My grandmother was a seamstress herself in Szolnok, and although we never spoke about it, I think that I got my talent for the handicraft side of the fashion design, like tailoring, cutting and fitting from her,” Hegedűs says. “I like to think that she is watching me from somewhere up above and she is proud that her favourite grandchild followed in her footsteps.”
Hegedűs also inherited a lot of fashion talent from the German side of the family. Her mother was a costume designer and her German grandmother taught fashion theory at the Art School Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, where Hegedűs used to study.
Piroshka is mostly influenced by traditional Hungarian folk art. The fashion designer uses original materials and prints, like for example the blueprint of the family Kovács that we meet ever so often in Hungarian folk art. The Hungarian-German fashion designer made it one of her goals to support and preserve regional textile handicraft by using her fusion of modern and folklore fashion.
She is also hoping to encourage a dialogue between the different cultures with her work. She could be more successful with this in Berlin than in Budapest in the given circumstances. In Germany there are many fans of ethno fashion. For example, the young south German fashion label “Blutsgeschwister“ (“sisters by blood”) is very successful at combining modern urban lifestyle with a time travel back to the German traditions. Or the fashion label from Munich called “Lollipop und Alpenrock“ calls attention with its couture-dirndl designs.
In Hungary such attempts usually have only modest success. Even Hegedűs is aware that modern Hungarian fashion is more directed towards international trends than inclined to turning back to its own roots.
A proper designer needs a place for fashion production and artistic self-expression too, of course. Hegedűs found her cultural nest in Heinrich Alkotói Szint, a community centre that she co-founded. “I had to create my own community at that time. As a stranger it was impossible to get into other communities.”
The vast premises of the former ironware storage premises Heinrich Udvar opposite the Museum of Applied Arts proved to be an ideal studio for her community. The founder of Piroshka joined other young designers who wanted to find a place to work and they rented this place together. Since that time the number of the members of the community has been growing constantly.
The young creative people inspire each other constantly. “We are all in the same shoes. We are all beginners with a small brand, so we always give each other tips and advice. Where to produce, how to sell, how to market ourselves. Customers who have visited one or other of the brands on the premises usually also look at my products too, or they see the photos of my collection on the walls.”
Hegedűs has a second fashion business pillar, selling tailor-made dresses for the big day of celebrating love via a separate website. Every piece is unique. There are no ready-made pieces to try on. The Piroshka Wedding Fashion designs individually for every client, fits the pieces and prepares them by hand. She can therefore apply all little necessary deviations from the standard model: balancing a sloped shoulder, an unusual figure or short legs in no time. The aim of Piroshka Wedding Fashion is to dress the bride and groom for their big day in matching outfits to look their best possible.
The brand Piroshka is still a very young one. The label has already been accepted in Budapest competitions with enthusiasm. The next step is for Hegedűs to legally protect her label. After that she will be able to mass-produce her designs and sell them in shops.
More information at: www.piroshka.hu/