By Yevgenia Yelovskaya
The youngsters conduct themselves with maturity, dignity and elegance, placing their hand on their hip and marching down the catwalk to show off the clothes they’re modelling, smiling at the end to the audience.
Top-Top fashion studio at the Children’s Theatre of Fashion has been operational for seven years at the City House of Culture and Leisure, helping Novopolotsk’s 3 to 12 year olds improve their catwalk skills Some of its graduates now earn a serious wage modelling but director Yelena Medvedskaya considers that the children learn something far more important: confidence and identity, grace and style, as well as good manners. They also learn practical skills, such as choreography. The especially designed programme allows children to develop their interpersonal skills alongside their self-belief, taste and artistry.
“The child’s individual image is nurtured like a precious flower,” stresses Ms. Medvedskaya. “Our objective is not to change them but to improve, emphasising the most interesting aspects of their personality. Our theatre performances, which are exemplary, have been regularly awarded at competitions and festivals. We’ve won such competitions as Fashion Angels, Fashion Mill and White Amphora several times and have even participated in a youth art studio in Sweden, as well as the Max Moda festival in Tallinn.
The variety of designer collections emphasise the unique images of the children, showing off their beauty to best advantage. The inspiration for the Hard Candy collection was everyone’s favourite candy lollipop. The blouses, dungarees, skirts, trousers and jackets in pastel colours with painted designs were set off by hats and stylised canes! For models, jury and audience alike, it was a true delight.
Top-Top liaises with fashion designers from near Dvina, and with the world’s leading manufacturers of children’s footwear and apparel — such as Sela and Broadway.
Novopolotsk is considered to be the capital of children’s fashion, mainly due to Top-Top. A year ago, its Couture Kids festival showed three new collections: by young designers Sergey Karelin and Yekaterina Krasikova and the third by Ms. Medvedskaya — her Walk in the Clouds. A second open competition is planned for December, gathering the country’s leading designers and best creative teams, as well as keen audiences. Ms. Medvedskaya and her young pupils are to present a collection dedicated to the Olympics, and another entitled Along Molodezhnaya, honouring the main street of their native city. We wish the children every success and joy as they strut the catwalk.
