“Narva is a city with a rich textile heritage, but there are hardly any local designers”: Viktoria Muske on organizing fashion shows in Estonia’s autumn capital

On May 24, 2025, Narva hosted its most ambitious fashion event to date — Ida Mood 2025. The event lasted all day and featured not only showcases of collections by Estonian designers but also lectures from fashion industry experts and a swap party where guests could exchange or purchase unique items.

 

The Haute Mood editorial team met with Viktoria Muske, the organizer of all significant fashion shows in Narva over the past five years. Under her leadership, notable events such as Kinoff Fashion Show 2021, Fair Enough 2022, Kinoff Fashion Show 2022, Moepööre 2023, and, of course, Ida Mood 2025 took place.

 

Viktoria was born and raised in Narva, feeling a connection to the world of fashion from childhood. After graduating from Tallinn Technical University, she decided to unleash her creative potential and enrolled in the Estonian Academy of Arts, where she initially studied accessory design before switching to fashion management. In an exclusive interview with Haute Mood, Viktoria shared her experience organizing fashion events and discussed the place she believes Narva holds in the local fashion scene.

 

How did your journey in organizing fashion shows in Narva begin? Did your education at the Estonian Academy of Arts or other experiences in the fashion industry influence this decision?

My journey in organizing fashion shows in Narva started in 2021 at the KinoFF festival, a side project of PÖFF. I was working with producer Jana Budkovskaja, who had a budget for additional events. We decided to organize a fashion show. Together with two other people, we did everything intuitively, without any specialized experience. It was only after organizing a few shows that I decided to pursue education at the Estonian Academy of Arts to learn how to do it professionally.

 

Your fashion shows—Kinoff Fashion Show, Fair Enough, Moepööre, Ida Mood—have different names. What’s behind this? Do they reflect different concepts, themes, or partnerships?

The names of the shows are tied to the events they were part of. Kinoff Fashion Show was held during the KinoFF festival, Fair Enough was part of the design week with the same name, and Moepööre Fashion Show was a component of the larger Moepööre project. Each time, the shows reflected the concept or partnership of the main event. This year, however, we launched Ida Mood as our own brand. We’ve worked on other people’s projects long enough and decided it was time to build something of our own. Now, even when collaborating with festivals, we want to promote Ida Mood as an independent brand.

 

 

Kinoff Fashion Show 2021 was your first fashion project. What was your experience organizing the first show, and what challenges did you face?

The biggest challenge was that I knew nothing and had no connections. I had to build all the processes from scratch: finding designers, makeup artists, models, organizing castings, fittings, and the line-up. There were no templates; everything was done for the first time, without any established systems. It was a huge amount of work that wasn’t directly related to the show itself but to creating the framework for its organization. Now we have some experience to build on, but back then, we started with a completely blank slate.

 

How is your team structured for organizing fashion shows? Do you work with a consistent group of assistants or specialists, or do you prefer to control key processes yourself?

As the organizer, I always oversee the key processes because I’m responsible for the project. Finances, communication with partners and designers, and dealing with the media are things that are hard to delegate, especially when it involves my legal entity or personal connections. Some tasks I simply can’t hand off because partners know me, not someone else.

 

The team started with three people: me, Oleg Trofimov, and Andriana Chupova. Over time, Daria Burkova, Ilya Petrov, and Anastasiya Rozenfeld joined us, forming our core team. We’re open to bringing in new people if they add value to the project and have specific skills, like managing social media or connections with designers. Mutual contribution is key: a person does something for the project, and the project helps them grow in return. Just “hanging out” won’t cut it—you need motivation and skills.

 

Ida Mood stood out this year with its scale and variety: fashion shows, professional lectures, and a swap party. What inspired you to create this format?

We wanted Ida Mood to be more than just an evening fashion show—we aimed to create a full-day experience that would engage people from morning to night. That required a diverse program: lectures, a swap party, and the show itself. We’d long wanted to bring a swap party to Narva—such events are popular in Tallinn, but we didn’t have them here. We decided to test if it would work. Plus, we put a strong focus on sustainable fashion. The expert lectures explain what sustainable fashion is and why it matters, reinforcing the concept. The swap party shows how it works in practice, and the show, featuring designers who use upcycling and recycled materials, amplifies this idea. As a result, attendees come, learn something new from experts, participate in the swap, see collections on the runway, and leave not only with new items but also with ideas about conscious consumption.

 

 

How do Narva residents perceive your fashion shows? Were they initially ready for such events, and what feedback have you received?

The feedback from Narva residents is clear in the fact that people keep coming to the shows every year. Even when we made this year’s event ticketed, the venue was packed. This shows that people are interested—they’re willing to buy tickets to attend, watch, take photos, and share their experiences. At the start, when we were just beginning, many were skeptical. Mostly fashion fans or those invited by friends showed up. But the audience has grown year by year. People are getting used to it, they see photos from past events, realize it’s cool, and want to be part of the project. Awareness has increased, and now more and more Narva residents know about these events in our city and eagerly join in.

 

How has interest in fashion and fashion shows in Narva changed over the past five years? Have you seen an increase in participants, sponsors, or attendees at your events?

I think interest in fashion has always been present in Narva—people everywhere, at all times, want to dress beautifully. Whether in a city or a village, women have always sewn, altered, and followed fashion trends. It’s just that 10 years ago, no one in Narva was organizing fashion shows, even though there was a demand for them. We saw this audience and decided to bring in designers and organize shows. The number of sponsors has grown because this year we took on the task of attracting them ourselves, whereas before, festivals handled that. As for participants, especially models, there’s never a shortage—girls in Narva are eager to get involved and love the opportunity to showcase themselves.

 

How do you see Narva’s place in Estonia’s fashion industry? Are many local designers participating in your shows?

The fashion industry in Narva is underdeveloped, with very few fashion designers—you could count them on one hand. There are plenty of talented seamstresses, tailors, and dressmakers working in ateliers or from home, sewing custom orders, but they aren’t designers. A designer creates collections, addresses a problem, or expresses an idea through clothing—for example, exploring historical themes or promoting sustainable fashion. A tailor simply sews without crafting concepts.

 

That said, Narva is a city defined by its rich textile heritage, closely tied to the Kreenholm factory. Almost every family had someone working as a weaver, dressmaker, or fabric dyer. Many women in Narva love sewing custom pieces or for themselves, attending sewing courses at vocational schools to create clothing at home. This relationship with fabrics and clothing is a unique trait of Narva, something you don’t find in Tallinn or Tartu. Despite this potential and interest, Narva lacked fashion events for a long time. We decided to change that, making it our mission to bring designers to the city. Narva offers a fresh audience—people who don’t travel to Tallinn for shows. Designers are excited about the idea of working with a city that has such a heritage and enthusiasm for fashion.

 

 

Are you planning to continue organizing fashion events in Narva in the same or even larger format next year? What are your plans?

I hope we’ll continue next year, but it’s hard to say how large-scale the event will be. This year, we’re also planning a small collaboration with the Station Narva festival, if everything comes together. Beyond that, we’ll see how things go. We might do something less ambitious, like just a fashion show. But I want to keep the tradition going, especially since we’ve been holding these events for several years now.

 

Haute Mood Special: Imagine you’ve been invited to the front row of a fashion show by one brand. Which brand would it be and why?

I’d choose the front row at a Maison Margiela show. The new creative director has brilliantly reimagined the brand’s style, setting a strong foundation. It feels like the next collection will be just as impressive, and I’m excited to follow their journey.

 

 

The original interview in Russian was translated into English with maximum accuracy, preserving the meaning and style of the original.