A VISIT TO BENEXT SHOWROOM PARIS – BY SOPHIE JOY WRIGHT

Dear Diane and Shaded Viewers, 

Fashion week is long over in Paris, though I still need to tell you about what I saw at BENEXT. With 22 designers from around the world, there was a lot to see at this showroom, so I picked out a few of the best. 

ANOUKI from Georgia had a soft and feminine collection of sheer and pearlescent fabrics. The young designer showed me a hand-beaded ladybird skirt that was very sweet, and her shoe collaboration also caught my eye. 

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Salomon Shayo Ambe is from Mexico, and looked at the 5 senses and their relationship to memory in his excellent graduate collection presented here. SALOSHAYO is the name of his brand, which features his embroidered and individually scented pieces. 

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Sopho Gongliashvili uses an ancient Georgian jewellery-making technique with enamel and fine silver to create her rings and brooches. The black ring with the two kissing birds is called "The Diane Pernet".

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Lara Quint from Ukraine drew inspiration from deranged office managers in her SS15 collection. Humour plays a welcome role in any collection as far as I'm concerned, and here the pieces were so cleverly constructed as if a suit had completely lost the plot, that the sense of play worked all the more. 

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Aika Alemi makes beautiful and calming garments with traditional felf-on-silk techniques from her home country of Khazakstan. The lovely reversible stripped cotton pieces also frequent the collection each season.

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Battenberg-Cartwright are a 'living conceptual piece and performance art duo' based between London and Germany. The duo created an installation in the BENEXT showroom with incredible materials and details.

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Ladiga is the brand of Latvian designer, Baiba Ladiga. This season she used interior patterns digitally printed on neoprene, silk and leather. She also made some pretty amazing shoes. 

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Atelier Kikala is based in Georgia and saw the concept of 'nature as a luxury' in this season's collection. The dripping hand-cut leather and rubber pieces, and the thick coat covered in an abstracted fauna print were particularly impressive. 

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Last but not least, Yana Chervinska explained her inspiration that came from the Pre-Raphaelites and Victorian avant gardes in her fantasyland graduate collection of felted hats and bubblegum coloured garments. It was lovely, and even moreso that Yana prestigiously displayed her work at the entrance of this space, showing both her talent and the confidence and support for young designers at this showroom. 

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Happy Tuesday, 

Sophie Joy 

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Sophie Joy Wright

@sophiejoywright

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