At the end of April, the international competition of young designers "Admiralty needle" was held in St. Petersburg for the 25th time, organized by St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design.

 As in previous seasons, young designers took part in the competition not only from different regions Of the Russian Federation. Designers from Japan, China, Serbia, Belarus, Finland, Denmark, Italy, France passed a tough selection from more than 300 applications. The competition jury was also international – the contestants' collections were evaluated by leading experts in the fashion industry from more than 12 countries around the world.

On April 22, a grandiose open anniversary show took place. The first place on the innovative podium was given to the premiere of the new St. Petersburg sportswear brand «SP» Peter Kazansky. 18 world champions in various sports performed as models in the show of the collection.

On April 23, the VIP-show "Ceremonial Petersburg" was held in the "room for the events of the hotel "Talion Imperial". An amazing collection of «Marfetka» was demonstrated by the famous Russian couturier Stas Lopatkin. The audience was also able to see the collections of the winners of the Admiralty Needle competition from previous years: Olga Chernoshchekova –the conceptual collection «Cargo 18» and the collection of evening dresses «Don Quixote's daughter» by Asi Akinshina, made of hand-painted silk. During the show , poems by outstanding Russian poets of the XX century were played . performed by theater and film actor Alexander Chernyshev, winner of the variety competition named after him. Andrey Mironov, the winner of the contest "Spring of Romance", stars of musicals "Portrait of Dorian Gray", "The Great Gatsby", accompanied by the famous St. Petersburg jazz band Konstantin Kuvaytsev.

On April 24, the international scientific and practical conference "Industrial Balance in Culture and Design" was held, where strategic issues of light industry, namely eco-friendly fashion, circular design and new technologies were discussed.

On April 25, the final gala screening was held and the winners were announced. The decoration of the final fashion show was a new collection by the famous Russian designer Janisa Chamalidand.

This year the competition was held under the motto "Fashion polygon", which provides for the use of new materials and modern technologies in the collections of participants. A fashionable robot took part in the final show, whose appropriate jokes showed that the new trends of the modern fashion industry and the creative team of the organizers of the competition received a lively response from the international fashion audience. Hall The St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design (SPbGUPTD), where the competitive fashion shows were held, was decorated in the style of an experimental technological landfill using LED screens-podiums, reflecting construction grids and modern lighting equipment.

President of the competition, Rector of SPbGUPTD, Chairman of the Council of Rectors of Universities of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, ProfessorAlexey Vyacheslavovich Demidov in his personal address to the audience  noted: «The interest of the world community and specialists of the fashion industry in the competition is constantly growing. And we are pleased that we are honourably fulfilling our main task − to discover more and more new names in Russian and world fashion ».

Artistic director of the competition, Professor of SPbGUPTD Lyubov Dzhikiya believes: "The importance of both theoretical and practical approach to the application of new technologies in the creation of clothing should not be underestimated. Today it is necessary to introduce modern scientific developments into the daily work of fashion designers. And we are very pleased that such works were awarded by both the International and National Jury of the competition.

The winners in various nominations received valuable prizes and internships in the world's leading fashion houses, trend bureaus and universities, as well as participation in national fashion weeks Russia, Italy, France, Denmark, Japan, Finland, Belarus.

The Grand Prix of the competition in the amount of half a million rubles was received by a participant from Krasnodar Tatiana Manoshkina, for the collection "Cosmic Dust". 

Founder and main sponsor of the international competition of young designers "Admiralty Needle" − SPbGUPTD.

Photo: SPbGUPTD