MilliOnAir | Fashion
imes have changed and now instead of looking forward to fashion week in the big four fashion capitals, one of the most exciting dates on the international fashion calendar is Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi. Each season the world’s top fashion editors, street style photographers, store buyers and fashion industry icons all descend on this hilly enclave to discover exciting new talent.
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For those that don’t know – and there are a lot of you as I constantly have to say not Georgia USA but the country Georgia, near Russia – Tbilisi is the Georgian capital, a point where Europe meets Asia and Russia. A magical place, Tbilisi won
my heart a few years ago for not just the excellent fashion but also the stunning scenery, cultural clashes, outstanding architecture and amazing wines.
These things all bring the fashion world’s great and good to the fashion week but more than this, it is the hotbed of amazing design talent that is emerging from this previously unrecognised fashion capital. The stampede of new Georgian talent was led firstly by David Koma and then latterly by Demna Gvasalia who found his place on the world stage with his brand Vetements in 2014. Receiving outstanding reviews for his first few collections, the Georgian-born designer successfully worked with leading boutiques across the globe to stock his brand. His recognisable silhouette of outsize proportions is lauded for bringing a streetwise, decontructivist edge to fashion. After a few seasons, his disruptive and directional aesthetic caught the attention of the luxury conglomerate Kering, who in 2015 chose Gvasalia to act as the artistic director of Balenciaga.
Following this, Georgian fashion was suddenly put centre stage and interest in other designers from this country began to escalate. Steering this interest in Georgian Fashion is the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi – a week-long celebration of diverse, established and rising talents presenting their collections in unusual and outstanding, historically significant locations across the city. Leading the Georgian fashion uprising is a woman I greatly admire - Sofia Tchkonia, the creative director of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi. Sofia is singlehandedly raising the profile of her home country designers and introducing them to world-wide opportunities. Not only does she draw the worlds fashion press and buyers to Georgia, she also negotiates opportunities for the designers to show in other fashion capitals and take part in global showrooms.