5 reasons to follow the Georgian fashion
Already a year we have been watching as Ukrainian fashion becomes part of the world. Daria Shapovalova joined the Nowfashion.com and Style.com teams, an influential Fashion Scout platform came to Kiev, Svetlana Bevza and Julia Pascal collections began to be sold in American and European stores. The same thing happens with the Georgian fashion industry. Buyers and the press will learn about the young talents of the country thanks to the ArtGeorgia exhibition in Paris, and for the Be Next beginner designers competition, journalists from Vogue and professors IED and LCF come to Kobuleti. Wonderzine understands what is happening in the country with a population of 4,000,000, and lists five reasons why you should follow the fashion in Georgia.
A wave of young designers
Until recently, the only known Georgian designer was Avtandil Tskvitinidze, but professionals could distinguish Aku Nanitashvili from Datuna Sulikashvili. For a couple of years in Georgia, a wave of newcomers. Some have studied abroad and are already showing up at the major fashion weeks - as a graduate of the French IFA and a participant in the MBFWR and UFW Ria Keburia. Others have left Tbilisi institutes and are just starting to assert themselves. The most promising are the designer Atelier Kikala Lado Bokuchavu, who creates handmade leather perforated items, as well as the brands Lasha Devdariani, Salome Mkheidze, Tiko Paksashvili and many others. Young Georgian designers are usually avant-garde. For example, Devdariani shows sculptural tops made of brilliant fabrics, Mkheidze - multilayered costumes with embroidery from a multitude of beads and stones, Paksashvili - dresses made of cushioned fabric with architectural details. Many began their careers with the opening of the studio for private clients, and after that they developed collections under their own name. Talented designers of accessories and jewelery are growing in Georgia: for example, Maryam Gvasalia creates heeled shoes with prints, and Sofo Gongliashvili with brooches and earrings with national colors.
Tbilisi Fashion Week
The last few years, Tbilisi Fashion Week takes place twice a year - like all the major fashion weeks. It fits into three or four days and offers a little more than a dozen hits from top designers: this model resembles an alternate week in Moscow Cycles & Seasons. Here are collected and promising newcomers - Lado Bokuchava, Tatuna Nikolashishvili, Riya Keburia, - and the key brands already entrenched in the market - for example, Atelier 10'a and Tamuna Ingorokva. However, without a couple of commercial shows also does not do. At TFW are installations, lectures and workshops, which is quite traditional for modern fashion weeks. Tbilisi is hardly radically different from similar local events, except that the space for the show in the Tbilisi Historical Museum Karvasla even looks great in photos.
Young Design Competition Be Next
New faces of Georgian fashion should be sought not among the participants of Tbilisi Fashion Week, but at the competition of young designers Be Next in Kobuleti. Behind him stands Sofia Chkonia. She is a key figure for the industry of the country - like Daria Shapovalova for Ukraine. Chkonia has filmed documentaries about Gareth Pugh, Madame Carven and Rick Owens, and opened the creative agency Société Anonyme, which deals with talent scouting and counseling in Georgia and France. This agency also funds the Be Next competition. Journalists from Vogue and professors IED and LCF, as well as bloggers like Diane Pernet and designers from friendly countries - Vika Gazinskaya and Gosha Rubchinsky come to look at the most promising designers. In addition to young Georgians, children from Ukraine participate in the competition. The prizes of Be Next are very impressive: this is the creation of a collection for the concept store MUUSE, and the filming for L'Officiel, and the courses at Istituto Marangoni. Last season Mariam Gvasalia, Yana Cherlinska, Galib Gasanov, Tekia Gurgenidze and Alexandre Akhalkatsishvili won the competition.
ArtGeorgia Exhibition in Paris
ArtGeorgia is another event hosted by Sofia Chkonia. The exhibition is held in Paris twice a year simultaneously with Paris Fashion Week. Within its framework, designers from CIS countries arrange installations with clothes from their collections. The last time among the participants were Georgians Keti Chkhikvadze and Tatulie, Ukrainians Elena Reva, Ksenia Schneider and Yasya Minochkina and Aynur Turysbek from Kazakhstan. ArtGeorgia - more about art than about fashion. An art party enters the exhibition space, but serious buyers and the press can be counted on fingers. Nevertheless, the initiative gives a chance to show themselves to designers who are focused on the local market: for example, Alexander Arutyunov. ArtGeorgia is unlikely to compete with a trade show like Capsule, Tranoi and Who's Next, where every year there are pavilions of designers from any country: for example, Lebanon or Turkey. But for the image of the country the exhibition is definitely important.
The availability of things designers
Georgian designers can easily buy things in Moscow: the Index showroom offers bright Aka Nanitashvili and chelsea loafers with gold details by Mariam Kharshiladze, Tamar Sulakvelidze T-shirts, Tatuna Nikolaishvili drapery dresses and Ria Keburia pleated dresses, as well as fancy Ketevane glasses, and mate Even if the brand is not represented in Russia, it may have an online store: Atelier Kikala delivers parcels to any country in the world. Even if the designer does not have a website yet (which is not surprising in the case of newbies), he can always write to Facebook: he will surely send his favorite top, ring or shoes by mail.
