Contest “Digital Ethno Fashion” 2026

III International project of cross-cultural initiatives “Diversity of Unity” starts with the support of the House of Peoples of Russia in 2026. The event is dedicated to the Year of Unity of Russian Peoples and the Decade of Indigenous Languages under UNESCO auspices.

The project includes three main events. They are the contest in a sphere of digital fashion, international scientific conference and educational school for young researchers.

The contest “Digital Ethno Fashion” will be held with the support of the Adyghe State University Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics and the SRU HSE Center of Language and Brain as the project parts Art & Science, Brain Art and Bilingualism projects. The project was successfully tested in 2024–2025 years. In 2024 it was named the Event of the Year in Russian fashion industry. In 2026 the contest reached an international level. The contest will be online.

Digital designers and Neo-ethnic style designers (who integrate traditional craft works into modern fashion) from Russia and other countries are invited to the contest. The theme of 2026 year is “Diversity of Unity. Language codes”. Participants are invited to turn to cross-cultural universals, ethno-cultural uniqueness, Bilingualism phenomenon and aesthetics of neuroscience. The works should reflect verbal and non-verbal markers of their nations’ mentality.

The contest is aimed at the development of cultures dialogue through modern digital costume. It includes four nominations, they are: digital image (3D-model of a costume), sketches of clothes collection, accessories and prints on clothes. We welcome the presentation of an image on the avatar of a historical figure or a prominent representative of an ethnic group, as well as the development of a campaign for digital display on international platforms. Visual hints on the topics are available in the attached collections.

It is important that the use of artificial intelligence is allowed at certain stages of the work, but fully generated AI works are not accepted for the participation.

Works are accepted until September 7 2026 on electronic mail  artroom.suziem@gmail.com. Each work is sent by a separate letter indicating the participant’s full name, supervisor’s data (if you have), place of study or work, city, work title and nominations. Files are named according to the format: Last name. Work title. Images of up to 5 Mb and videos of up to 15Mb are accepted.