An 11 Year Old from Ukraine Named Best Young Fashion Designer

Kyiv, June 22, 2011. Polina Horlova, 11 years old, was chosen as the best young fashion designer at the International Forum of Models, Talents, and Designers in Moscow, Russia, for her collection Crystal Rain. One of the top world couturiers Pierre Cardin invited the Ukrainian designer to participate in his Paris festival in November.

The 11 year old Polina Horlova, a resident of the South-Eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, impressed the jury of the International Forum of Models, Talents, and Designers in Moscow with her collection. The owner of the 60 year old fashion label Pierre Cardin asked Polina to bring a collection to Paris this November. Designer Viktoria Horlova, the mother of the young designer, said: “Polina has been previously invited to study in Paris.”

Crystal Rain is a collection of haute couture clothes for teenagers made prevailingly in white and silver tones. Her material of choice in making the collection was tulle. Some of the most memorable elements of Crystal Rain were the hats, the bursting of fabric and the festive atmosphere created by the collection.

The young designer has already started to work on her collection for Paris. “The French architecture inspired me to show Europe our beautiful Ukrainian churches. The collection’s name will be Orthodox Ukraine. The models will wear huge hats designed as Ukrainian churches and I will paint Ukrainian landscapes onto the dresses with acrylic,” says Polina. “It’s difficult to say how many images will be included in the collection but I will have to do a thousand sketches with mom sewing only 20-30 best designs.”

Polina has been interested in fashion since early childhood. At an age of three she made adjustments to the clothes that her mother, who is a fashion designer, made for her. The young wonder made her first swimwear collection at the age of five. As of now she has successfully competed in 55 fashion contests.

Pierre Cardin himself began his fashion design career at 23 and did not become successful until he was 29 when he designed about 30 costumes for the “party of the century” – a masquerade ball in Venice back in 1951.

Photo coutesy by Segodnya, Viktoria Horlova