The international jury will not only evaluate the work of the young fashion designers, it will also, for the second year, decide on the best fashion school, as well. Designers have applied to compete in three categories – artistic prêt-a-porter, avant-garde fashion, and industrial prêt-a-porter.

The schools which are up for the title of best fashion school are the Latvian Academy of Art, the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts (Lithuania), the Telšiai Faculty of Art (Lithuania), the Estonian Academy of Art, the Tallinn University of Applied Sciences (Estonia), the Krakow School of Art and Fashion Design (Poland), the International School of Garment and Fashion Design (Poland), the Southern Russian State University of Economics and Services, the Design Academy (Slovenia), and the Mimar Sinal Fine Arts University (Turkey). The best school will be determined on the basis of the points which students from each one accumulate.

The well-known image consultant and fashion analytic Konstantin Bogomolov will chair the international jury. Other members of the international jury will be fashion professionals and instructors from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland.

The winners of the “Habitus Baltija 2010” competition will be nominated to take part in international designer competitions such as the prestigious Russkiy Siluet International Designer Competition, which will be held in Moscow in 2011 or the Exercise fashion competition that will be part of Russia’s leading textiles trade fair.  There will be other valuable prizes, as well.

The mission of “Habitus Baltija” is to discover new talents, foster young designers, allow them to gain new experiences, and facilitate the exchange of creative ideas and knowledge among fashion designers and garment industry professionals.

“Habitus Baltija” is being organised by the Latvian Academy of Art together with the Estonian Academy of Art, the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, the Krakow School of Art and Fashion Design, the Tallinn University of Applied Sciences, and the BT1 international exhibition company.

The competition will be held as part of the 15th Intertextil Balticum exhibition of textiles, apparel, leather garments and production equipment.  The event will be held at the Kipsala International Exhibition Centre in Riga from April 9-11, 2010.