Fashion design was one of the spheres of applied arts that helped Latvians get noticed even in the Soviet period. It seems that the locals prefer the reticence and asceticism of Scandinavian style. Yet our fashion designers Natālija Jansone, Dāvids, Sintija Šustiņa, Terēze Gruntmane, Ingrīda Dārzniece, Elita Patmalniece, Asnāte Smeltere, Anna Osjmuškina and others have already introduced the world to much more colourful and daring creations. The annual summer fashion show held by the Department of Fashion Design at the Latvian Academy of Art usually turns into a veritable celebration of fashion.

The Department of Design is the most popular at the Academy of Art. Designers get their professional education also at the Riga Secondary School for Design and Art.  Even though we are well aware of the best the contemporary world of design can offer, most of the largest Latvian factories have developed contractual relationships with world famous brands with the result that the products bearing these brands are mass produced here and shipped abroad. As a result, nobody knows anything about our own design potential.