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| Down With Communism, Up With Fashion: A Measure of a Dream |
As the fashion world grows and shifts, Ferenc Csabay, is a star waiting to be discovered amongst a
sea of wannabes. A Hungarian designer, Csabay combines fashion and form to create wearable art
with lavish ingenuity and savvy chic minimalism. With all his talent Csabay struggles as a visionary
fighting against the current of a closed society.
As a young boy in Budapest, Hungary, Csabay remembers going to state sponsored fashion shows
during the iron fist of the communist regime that ruled his country until 1989. “They were the only
fashion shows then,” Csabay remembers, “Centralized fashion” [as the scene was referred to in
those days, and its’ shows] were terrible and boring.” Recalling his earliest exposure to the fashion
world and his days amongst the socialist fashion market he states with a boyish excitement and a
heavy accent, “I liked that somehow they always allowed me to go backstage. I liked this part but
[back then] fashion meant nothing to me.”
Csabay is a rare breed of designer who evolved from a once less “diligent student”, as he refers to
himself, to one who found a calling and overcame numerous hurdles to learn his craft and become
recognized.
Csabay’s journey begins with a lack of direction in Primary School. Influenced by some family
members who worked as tailors, Csabay, decided to give this profession a try as a means to an end.
So, in the early 1990’s, Csabay attended a technical school learning how to cut patterns and work
with textiles. But in the mid-nineties when the Hungarian street style began to rise in the fledgling
market, giving birth to such names as No Fear, Diesel, Stussy, and Replay, Csabay found himself
unsatisfied with what he saw. “I always felt some creativity in myself and because I disliked the street
styles so much I started to make sketches of my designs. I can’t say I [was a] fashion designer [yet]. It
was just the first weak try. ”
Still, it took another four years for Csabay to convince himself that he was a designer at heart. At the
age of 21 he began attending Corvine Art School in Budapest to learn how to properly present his
designs on paper. But, that was only the beginning of his journey. “In Hungary we have only one
official university for fashion design and it is not exactly a fashion school. The teachers have been the
same since the 60’s and 70’s. You can imagine what they know about modern fashion life. So, I had
to get into the only university. To be short, I failed four times!! Last time they kicked me out from the
FIRST round.” During these years Csabay had been working in construction, passing out flyers, and
sewing clothes for my friends to pay for the prepping school courses. “Art history, modern art history,
and aquarelle painting; I learnt everything I could.” He recalls, “It was not easy emotionally, because I
had won many talent search competitions and every year I went to the entrance examinations like “ok,
this time I'll make it,” and they always kicked me out without explanation. After four tries, I was strong
enough to figure out; the stupid one is not me.”
When others would have given up, Csabay kept on keeping on. “It was like destiny that after the fourth
try I found a freshly established private university.” The private university is in-fact Krea College of Art.
“I presented them my portfolio and they let me in without any exams. So I finished this school, yet my
diploma is still not official in Hungary because the only university denies every process, but I don’t
care. As I understand it, in the eyes of the foreign universities my diploma is worth more than the
Hungarian official [one would have been]. Maybe they know something?”
Today, he has begun his own label called CSF by Ferenc Csabay, and is hard at work to break
through the fashion world. “This label is based on my designer motto: wearable, yet unique. I like the
Anglo-Saxon style but I also like the Japanese inventive design aspect.” As well as learning a craft he
has also shifted as an artist. The once reluctant designer has come to accept and nurture a love for
his beloved styling, “It is like an indirect psychology. A good design can give positive energies to the
wearer.”
After all that Csabay has endured to launch his label, destiny would have it, that he would be faced
with more opposition. “Hungary is a small market and since I’ve started to work on this label I’ve been
attacked by many designers. I’m glad they are afraid. I have no place in other designers’ halos, I'm
doing it my way,” he states defiantly.
According to Csabay getting into his local market is like getting into a posh club, “You have to be their
friend to get inside. We have a few designer stores and the Hungarian fashion shows are just social
happenings. No buyers, no distributors. What is working here is the bespoke tailoring, but to do this
you need wealthy customers.”
Like all other things, what works in one fashion market may not work in the other and one must
wonder does the past influence of the communist days with the simple silhouettes and the ethnic
prints still echo in the fashion scene of Hungary today? “We had a small recurrence about two years
ago when three different designer groups made Hungaro/ethnic-collections and they used ethnic
prints. It was weird; these collections were almost the same. We, the young emerging designers, are
trying to forget the communist influences but we keep the ethnic values.”
Csabay did not hold back about what needs to change in the Hungarian market, “Time will change
everything. The main problem is our past 50-60 years and the fact is that the average Hungarian has
no visual culture. It is not a shame; it is just because we were disconnected from the rest of the world.
The changing will be automatic; we only have to wait for the generational changes to happen. With
this I’m sure our fashion market will be a lot bigger; big enough for everyone. And this will help our
fashion education system too. This should be the direction for our development.”
Still, Csabay believes that his country’s market has evolved over the years, “The Hungarian fashion
life advanced a lot since 1989. But we had a huge gap. In fashion design we are closing in on the rest
of the world I think, but if we are talking about the industry we need a lot more sewing factories,
seamstresses, pattern makers, public relations agents, fashion managers, brand managers, etc.
Believe it or not here we have only one two year course for fashion management and it is at the official
university. I think what would really help the Hungarian fashion life and industry is a world famous
fashion designer from here; maybe some day.”
Csabay craves to create without the “hypocrisy” that he believes is rampant in the market there today.
“In Budapest there are three stores where my collection is available. But these owners know me and
are accepting of my opinion.” Without that friendship, Csabays’ work would be lost to his own people.
He also hopes that the outpouring of support and appreciation by the foreign markets of the U.S.,
Singapore, Spain, and Canada will continue so that he may establish the proper networks with
shops, wholesalers, and distributors needed to grow and become an international force.
Regardless of how much resistance he is faced with you can be sure that this rising star will brake
through the barriers and shift the style force that binds him now with his innovative and fresh
perspective. Where in the past couture has sometimes failed, crossing over the line where the
sublime becomes the ridiculous un-wearable show pieces, Csabay proves beautiful art can be both
wearable and functional. Just goes to show: sometimes being the outsider can aver to be the most
worthwhile status of all.
sea of wannabes. A Hungarian designer, Csabay combines fashion and form to create wearable art
with lavish ingenuity and savvy chic minimalism. With all his talent Csabay struggles as a visionary
fighting against the current of a closed society.
As a young boy in Budapest, Hungary, Csabay remembers going to state sponsored fashion shows
during the iron fist of the communist regime that ruled his country until 1989. “They were the only
fashion shows then,” Csabay remembers, “Centralized fashion” [as the scene was referred to in
those days, and its’ shows] were terrible and boring.” Recalling his earliest exposure to the fashion
world and his days amongst the socialist fashion market he states with a boyish excitement and a
heavy accent, “I liked that somehow they always allowed me to go backstage. I liked this part but
[back then] fashion meant nothing to me.”
Csabay is a rare breed of designer who evolved from a once less “diligent student”, as he refers to
himself, to one who found a calling and overcame numerous hurdles to learn his craft and become
recognized.
Csabay’s journey begins with a lack of direction in Primary School. Influenced by some family
members who worked as tailors, Csabay, decided to give this profession a try as a means to an end.
So, in the early 1990’s, Csabay attended a technical school learning how to cut patterns and work
with textiles. But in the mid-nineties when the Hungarian street style began to rise in the fledgling
market, giving birth to such names as No Fear, Diesel, Stussy, and Replay, Csabay found himself
unsatisfied with what he saw. “I always felt some creativity in myself and because I disliked the street
styles so much I started to make sketches of my designs. I can’t say I [was a] fashion designer [yet]. It
was just the first weak try. ”
Still, it took another four years for Csabay to convince himself that he was a designer at heart. At the
age of 21 he began attending Corvine Art School in Budapest to learn how to properly present his
designs on paper. But, that was only the beginning of his journey. “In Hungary we have only one
official university for fashion design and it is not exactly a fashion school. The teachers have been the
same since the 60’s and 70’s. You can imagine what they know about modern fashion life. So, I had
to get into the only university. To be short, I failed four times!! Last time they kicked me out from the
FIRST round.” During these years Csabay had been working in construction, passing out flyers, and
sewing clothes for my friends to pay for the prepping school courses. “Art history, modern art history,
and aquarelle painting; I learnt everything I could.” He recalls, “It was not easy emotionally, because I
had won many talent search competitions and every year I went to the entrance examinations like “ok,
this time I'll make it,” and they always kicked me out without explanation. After four tries, I was strong
enough to figure out; the stupid one is not me.”
When others would have given up, Csabay kept on keeping on. “It was like destiny that after the fourth
try I found a freshly established private university.” The private university is in-fact Krea College of Art.
“I presented them my portfolio and they let me in without any exams. So I finished this school, yet my
diploma is still not official in Hungary because the only university denies every process, but I don’t
care. As I understand it, in the eyes of the foreign universities my diploma is worth more than the
Hungarian official [one would have been]. Maybe they know something?”
Today, he has begun his own label called CSF by Ferenc Csabay, and is hard at work to break
through the fashion world. “This label is based on my designer motto: wearable, yet unique. I like the
Anglo-Saxon style but I also like the Japanese inventive design aspect.” As well as learning a craft he
has also shifted as an artist. The once reluctant designer has come to accept and nurture a love for
his beloved styling, “It is like an indirect psychology. A good design can give positive energies to the
wearer.”
After all that Csabay has endured to launch his label, destiny would have it, that he would be faced
with more opposition. “Hungary is a small market and since I’ve started to work on this label I’ve been
attacked by many designers. I’m glad they are afraid. I have no place in other designers’ halos, I'm
doing it my way,” he states defiantly.
According to Csabay getting into his local market is like getting into a posh club, “You have to be their
friend to get inside. We have a few designer stores and the Hungarian fashion shows are just social
happenings. No buyers, no distributors. What is working here is the bespoke tailoring, but to do this
you need wealthy customers.”
Like all other things, what works in one fashion market may not work in the other and one must
wonder does the past influence of the communist days with the simple silhouettes and the ethnic
prints still echo in the fashion scene of Hungary today? “We had a small recurrence about two years
ago when three different designer groups made Hungaro/ethnic-collections and they used ethnic
prints. It was weird; these collections were almost the same. We, the young emerging designers, are
trying to forget the communist influences but we keep the ethnic values.”
Csabay did not hold back about what needs to change in the Hungarian market, “Time will change
everything. The main problem is our past 50-60 years and the fact is that the average Hungarian has
no visual culture. It is not a shame; it is just because we were disconnected from the rest of the world.
The changing will be automatic; we only have to wait for the generational changes to happen. With
this I’m sure our fashion market will be a lot bigger; big enough for everyone. And this will help our
fashion education system too. This should be the direction for our development.”
Still, Csabay believes that his country’s market has evolved over the years, “The Hungarian fashion
life advanced a lot since 1989. But we had a huge gap. In fashion design we are closing in on the rest
of the world I think, but if we are talking about the industry we need a lot more sewing factories,
seamstresses, pattern makers, public relations agents, fashion managers, brand managers, etc.
Believe it or not here we have only one two year course for fashion management and it is at the official
university. I think what would really help the Hungarian fashion life and industry is a world famous
fashion designer from here; maybe some day.”
Csabay craves to create without the “hypocrisy” that he believes is rampant in the market there today.
“In Budapest there are three stores where my collection is available. But these owners know me and
are accepting of my opinion.” Without that friendship, Csabays’ work would be lost to his own people.
He also hopes that the outpouring of support and appreciation by the foreign markets of the U.S.,
Singapore, Spain, and Canada will continue so that he may establish the proper networks with
shops, wholesalers, and distributors needed to grow and become an international force.
Regardless of how much resistance he is faced with you can be sure that this rising star will brake
through the barriers and shift the style force that binds him now with his innovative and fresh
perspective. Where in the past couture has sometimes failed, crossing over the line where the
sublime becomes the ridiculous un-wearable show pieces, Csabay proves beautiful art can be both
wearable and functional. Just goes to show: sometimes being the outsider can aver to be the most
worthwhile status of all.
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