Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
One Swiss who’s making quite a splash abroad is Yannik Zamboni. The 37-year-old fashion designer, who last year won a million dollars on US reality TV series Making the Cut, has just been showing off his latest collection at New York Fashion Week.
Here is more on that and other news and stories from Switzerland on Monday.
In the news: Pulling Rubbish out of Lake Geneva, voting to partially nationalise UBS, and sending Red Cross aid to the Karabakh region.
- Some 950kg of rubbish was recovered in and around Lake Geneva at the weekend, including 485kg of cans, almost 250kg of glass bottles and almost the same volume of PET bottles. Volunteers also pulled out a washing machine drum, ten car tyres, two computers and thousands of cigarette butts.
- A popular initiative in Switzerland wants to hold a vote on partially nationalising UBS Group. The so-called banks initiative proposes amending the Swiss constitution to say that “large banks of systemic importance are to be managed as joint stock companies with the confederation as majority shareholder in terms of share capital”.
- The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today it had sent humanitarian convoys to the breakaway Karabakh region from Armenia and Azerbaijan simultaneously, re-opening the road link to Armenia blockaded since December.
New York Fashion Week is one of the most glamorous events in the world. Swiss designer Yannik Zamboni was there for the second time, presenting his new “DNA” collection.
Designers from all over the world have been travelling to New York to show off their clothes since 1943. The New York event is one of the “Big Four”, alongside fashion shows in London, Paris and Milan. Over 100,000 visitors were expected at all shows in Manhattan this year. Basel-born Zamboni was there last week, promoting his work, which like all his collections carries a socio-political message.
“I think it’s incredibly important to not just make beautiful clothes, but clothes that convey a message,” he said. The message of his latest collection is visible on the label: “Do not wash if you have just experienced a sexual assault.”
The knitting that Zamboni uses for his works comes from a feminist cooperative in Madagascar. But the designer adds his personal touch to each piece. He said the New York show presented a great opportunity: “Winners of reality shows are not taken seriously by the fashion world. I have the urge to prove that I am a real designer.” Zamboni achieved his breakthrough last year in the reality TV series Making the Cut, where former top model Heidi Klum rated the work of up-and-coming fashion designers.
His creations don’t just get top marks from Klum; he also rates highly with Swiss model Manuela Frey (pictured with Zamboni at the Swiss Music Awards in May), who says he makes “cuts that are sexy and not every designer has them”. This is something that is needed today, said the 26-year-old ahead of her New York appearance in a white Zamboni dress. His designs are dominated by the colour white, true to his label “maison blanche”, which he founded three years ago.
Swiss universities regularly rank high in international surveys and attract a large number of foreign students. But how much do you know about them? In this video explainer we look at which universities there are, how students can access them and where foreign students fit in.
In the Times Higher Education World University rankings in 2020, Switzerland had more top-200 universities per capita than any other country. The generally low tuition fees play a role in attracting students from abroad, and the admission criteria are relatively straightforward: an upper-secondary diploma equivalent to the Swiss baccalaureate, proficiency in the language of instruction and students visas where those apply.
However, the ongoing political stalemate surrounding Switzerland’s negotiations with the European Union has hampered academic collaborations with universities abroad. The Swiss government aims to become once again an associate member of both Erasmus Plus and Horizon Europe, two students exchange networks but the discussions are still underway.
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