{"id":154946,"date":"2026-08-29T01:25:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T01:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/154946\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T01:25:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T01:25:39","slug":"why-lithuanian-designers-are-betting-on-a-fashion-week-of-their-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/154946\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Lithuanian designers are betting on a Fashion Week of their own"},"content":{"rendered":"

When FashionUnited asked designer K\u0119stutis (Kestas) Rimd\u017eius what he felt was currently lacking or missing within the Lithuanian fashion scene, he was quick to answer. Not talent, nor creativity or skill, but rather a larger platform to showcase what local designers are capable of. \u201cAs we are a small country, I feel we lack international recognition at times,\u201d he says to FashionUnited.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the reasons why Kestas, a Lithuanian household name who has been working in the industry for 25 years, will be participating in the second edition of Vilnius Fashion Week (VFW), in spite of having shown at Paris and Riga Fashion Week. Returning after a 25-year hiatus in 2025, it is also the reason why the organisers behind Vilnius Fashion Week (Elle Lithuania and Elle Baltic) are aiming to grow the event well beyond its country\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n

\"Vilnius
\n Vilnius Fashion Week 2025, ELLE Iconic Night Credits: VFW<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to put Vilnius on the international fashion map,\u201d Berta \u010caikauskait\u0117, head of communications at Vilnius Fashion Week, tells FashionUnited. Keen to attract more international media coverage, VFW has ambitious goals for its annual event. \u201cWe need to be bold and ambitious if we want to grow.\u201d
\nRunning from August 28 to September 7, the week centres on Elle Iconic Night at the Grand Courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Dukes, where ten Lithuanian designers will present curated collections, ranging from capsules made exclusively for the event to seasonal work. Kestas is among them, attending for the second year running, as is Agn\u0117 Kuzmickait\u0117, an experienced stage and costume designer who runs her own eponymous label.<\/p>\n

Why VFW is focusing on visibility: a domestic market of 2.8 million isn\u2019t enough<\/p>\n

Expanding on last year\u2019s event in terms of programme, designers showing and likely attendee numbers, both VFW organisers and designers agree on the importance of global reach. \u201cLithuanian brands cannot depend on our home market alone,\u201d Kestas says. With a current estimated population of approximately 2.8 million, the country is simply too small to sustain the growth of an established brand, like his or Agn\u0117\u2019s. It\u2019s why he will continue to show abroad as well as in his home city, as he wants to help bring international recognition to the country\u2019s capital rather than chasing it elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\"K\u0119stutis
\n K\u0119stutis (Kestas) Rimd\u017eius at VFW 2025 Credits: VFW<\/p>\n

\u201cRiga, Paris and Vilnius Fashion Week all have their own unique energy and atmosphere, and I enjoy showing at all of them. But it’s important to have a strong market where you are based, to show at your own Fashion Week and connect with local buyers and clients.\u201d Agn\u0117, who has previously shown her collections during London, Berlin and Paris Fashion Week, shares similar views. \u201cHaving our own Fashion Week is very important,\u201d she says as she shares photographs of the upcoming pieces she is set to showcase. \u201cDesigners need a platform like fashion week to connect with a bigger audience.\u201d In addition to showing at VFW in September, Agn\u0117 will also host her own fashion show in October, where she can stage the entire show aligned with her vision.<\/p>\n

The price of showing at international fashion weeks<\/p>\n

However, the price of visibility does not necessarily come cheaply, as Kestas and Agn\u0117 know all too well. When Kestas had everything aligned for his Paris Fashion Week debut this March, unexpected travel disruption meant that his models, hair and makeup team, and even parts of his collection were not able to travel as planned. Add in a venue change, and things seemed pretty bleak. But rather than cancelling his debut, he managed to reroute and rebook everything needed for his show – at a considerable additional cost. \u201cYou do not want to know how much money I spent,\u201d he says. \u201cBut we managed to pull everything together in the end.\u201d Although he was afraid that, due to the show changes, only his friends and loyal clients from Lithuania would attend, international buyers and editors came in the end, and the show was a success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do wish there was more transparency when it comes to the financial aspects of staging a Fashion Week show,\u201d Agn\u0117 stresses. While attracting a larger clientele goes hand-in-hand with growth, she wonders how that growth is meant to be funded. \u201cSecuring the right financial backing\u201d is among \u201cthe most difficult parts of running a fashion brand in Lithuania,\u201d she says. Agn\u0117 admits that she would be open to working with a partner or financial backer to help her brand scale internationally, but not at the price of her creative independence.<\/p>\n

\"Agn\u0117
\n Agn\u0117 Kuzmickait\u0117 at VFW 2025 Credits: VFW<\/p>\n

Known for her flamboyant, yet current designs, Agn\u0117 initially found unexpected commercial success through her now-signature butterfly motif, which she first started printing on t-shirts and baby onesies in the early 2010s. Since then, it has become a central part of her brand, leading to a homeware collaboration of bedding that sold 600,000 pieces, far beyond her expectations, and opened her to categories she never planned to enter. Now, when she\u2019s designing her collections, Agn\u0117 strives to find the middle ground between the creative and commercial. \u201cSometimes I want to create more artistic, or avant-garde designs, but I have to balance that with what my customers want and expect from me,\u201d she says, adding that she is keen to set an example for the younger generation of Lithuanian fashion designers through her work.<\/p>\n

VFW amongst a generational change in Lithuanian fashion design<\/p>\n

In the 25 years since Vilnius Fashion Week took its hiatus, the fashion scene in Lithuania has changed. In the middle of what Kestas describes as \u201ca generational change,\u201d when he first began working in the industry, it was common for designers to have classical training, with many working as costume designers – Agn\u0117 included. \u201cEmerging designers today are more trend-and streetwear-driven,\u201d he notes, adding that they seem to place less emphasis on technical construction or individual style. Agn\u0117 draws a similar conclusion, saying she feels that many of the Lithuanian designers who have come and gone over the years struggled to stay culturally relevant because they went \u201ctoo trendy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the creative scene of Lithuanian fashion that has changed; the social dynamic has shifted too. Kestas shares that in the past there was a larger sense of competition among designers in the country, with some being quick to talk the other down. But in recent years, that sense of rivalry has given way to camaraderie and mutual support, which is why events like VFW matter to him as a proponent of local fashion. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see so many designers supporting one another now, and becoming encouraging to one another,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Inga
\n Inga Skripka at VFW 2025 Credits: VFW<\/p>\n

As the overall Lithuanian fashion industry continues to work out what and where it wants to be, Agn\u0117 offers some insight on where it landed. Growing up while the country was still under Soviet rule, she recalls watching television commercials once Lithuania gained independence and unintentionally absorbing the messaging regarding what commercial success. Think big, polished, highly stylized, and loud ads showcasing why you need a certain imported product in your life. It’s messaging that she is still partly unravelling to this day.<\/p>\n

Balancing creativity and commercial viability in Lithuanian Fashion<\/p>\n

Part of her way to do so is to look closer to her roots and heritage for inspiration. Agn\u0117\u2019s recent collections reflect her background as a costume designer and include references to Lithuanian national dress, worked into headpieces, dresses, and scarves. A take that an older generation of designers practiced as art, because art was the only register available, is now returning as identity.<\/p>\n

That, perhaps, is the real ambition behind Vilnius Fashion Week’s second edition, not to just put Lithuanian designers in the spotlight in front of international editors, but to give a generation still defining success on its own terms a stage of its own to do it on.<\/p>\n

VFW Programme
\n28 August: Sustainable Fashion Week Vilnius, Vilnius Town Hall Square. An international sustainable fashion festival curated by designer and festival founder Serge Gandzumian, open to the public.
\n2 September: ELLE Iconic Night, Grand Courtyard of the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. The week’s centrepiece, where ten Lithuanian designers present curated collections. Around 1,000 guests are expected, with ELLE editors from Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Norway, Denmark and the Baltic countries in attendance.
\n3 September: The Bridge, International Cultural Diplomacy Initiative. Organised with the City of Vilnius, it brings together politics, diplomacy, business and the creative industries to build a long-term framework of exchange programmes, internships, mentorship and international visibility, with a focus on emerging Ukrainian designers.
\n4 September: International Fashion Business Gathering, Embassy of the Republic of Italy.
\n5 September: Young Designers’ Day, Luki\u0161k\u0117s Prison 2.0.
\n7 September: Raimedas Latvys presents MAX DRAMA, Vilnius Town Hall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When FashionUnited asked designer K\u0119stutis (Kestas) Rimd\u017eius what he felt was currently lacking or missing within the Lithuanian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[93],"tags":[171,170],"class_list":["post-154946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vilnius","tag-lithuania","tag-vilnius"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117176196298269004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}