Dear Shaded Viewers,
I went to Tbilisi with Diane Pernet with great excitement. Georgia is on everyone’s lips at the moment. Why? As simple as that, it is the motherland of an exported globally recognized fashion phenomenon, one name above them all is Demna Gvasalia, Creative Director of Balenciaga and the leader of the influential Vetemens fashion collective based in Paris. The fashion week in Tbilisi, organized by Mercedes Benz and patron saint of fashion Madame Sofia Tchkonia, is definetely on the rise to become the next destination for emerging designers and new names on the fashion map. The collections are creative, contemporary, well crafted and totally affordable in terms of pricing. There is still a little fine tuning to be made: a bit of styling improvement, quality materials to be used, without putting lots of their loved ones, like Demna, and Margiela or Comme in their styles. However compared to the previous edition lots has changed and most of them have found their signature style.
Alexander Artyunov
Georgia-born and Russia-educated, designer Alexander Artyunov even if based in Moscow showed his Fall/Winter collection in the city of Tbilisi. His show was one of the most succesful because it perfectly combined iconic Georgian cultural traditions with sophisticated contemporary silhouettes. Winking a little bit to Gucci of course, but the esemble was totally catching. A collection of ultra-wearable looks that can effortlessy work 24/7. This season Artyunov took us into a whimsical world of prints and embroideries. A retro 70’s flair where natural elements like flowers, birds, and sparkling motives come to life. Very colorful and with a touch of sporty for the bomber jackets and the denim parkas.
Lalo
Lalo Cardigans was founded in 2012 by twin sisters Lalo and Nina Dolidze. Each piece is unique and hand made by over 200 knitters. The story of this sister-business starts back in student years when Lalo Dolidze, more a creative than a designer, started to develop some ideas of special knitted pieces and started to wear hand-woven cardigans made by her on her own design. After a while her sister Nina encouraged her to develop a full collection also involving one of the most talented designer in Georgia: Lado Bokuchava. From jumpers and cardigans to a full knit-collection of wonder is what made Lalo a national success ready to step into the rest of the world. Lalo draws her inspiration from Nature’s most unique and beautiful features, often using for the collections shapes and silhouettes of different flowers and plants. A head-to –toe knitwear collection with some silk robes to go underneath and beautiful fuzzy platforms or flats in shimmering materials. Luscious knit coats, graphic tweeds and embroideries that look like details coming out of a Monet’s painting.
Atelier Kikala
Architectural design and geometry studies with a high-end touch. Lado Bokuchava still impresses me a lot. This collection featured voluminous dress with 3D scallop details and elegant riffs on tracksuiting with precise cutting and never too obvious draping. I love the mix betwen long monochrome down jackets that had a sort of Samurai effect, the feminine easy going jersey dress that leave your shoulers naked by the use of almost invisible straps. Knitwear, that is one of Lado’s specialty, was inserted here and there for decorating the dresses like little circles on the bust or to oversize wool pants that lookes like splashes of colors. The billowing puff sleeves on dresses and coats are reminiscent of the 80s club kids attire you can find looking at a Nan Goldin’s photograph, which is exactly one of his inspirations for the Fall 2016 collection. The sheer transparent dresses with geometrical motifs paired with flare pants, to macth perfectly with a pair of flats.
More to come…
Later,
Giorgia
Images: 4 for each designer starting from the top
