Fashion audit

The nineteenth season of Russian Fashion Week will go down in the history of fashion because the opening of the first government-run Museum of Fashion in Russia was announced at an official reception dedicated to the opening of Russian Fashion Week. This momentous event caught the attention of key representatives of our country's cultural, political and fashion elite. Russia's Minister of Culture Alexander Avdeyev, State Duma cultural committee chairman Grigory Ivliyev, and Margarita Barzhanova, director of the Russian Museum of Decorative-Applied and Folk Arts, wished Russian Fashion Week and the new federal museum project a successful start. The legendary couturier Vyacheslav Zaytsev presented to the museum the patterns from his collections from various years, thereby laying the foundation for a collection of the work of contemporary Russian designers in the Russian Museum of Fashion.

This season's Russian Fashion Week featured our country's best designers and some promising debutantes. Those who showed their collections on the Russian Fashion Week podiums included: Slava Zaitsev, PARFENOVA, ARNGOLDT, Yegor Zaytsev, St Bessarion, GULI, Yulia Nikolayeva, TEGIN, BIRYUKOV, POUSTOVIT, Vassa, Masha Kravtsova, Dasha Gauser, Anna Direchina, Anastasia Z, Yelena Suprun, Lyudmila Norsoyan, GS by Sabina Gorelik, Yulia Sarkisova, Masha Sharoyeva, EVELYN, LENA KARNAUHOVA, M. Rimer, Narciss, O.K.M., SV2, Buton Fashion House, Olga Brovkina, Hayam Hanukaev, Daina by Chistova & Endourova, KO by Sultanna Frantsuzova, and others.

The foreign participants in Russian Fashion Week demonstrated a surprisingly harmonious combination of topical trends and the uniqueness and authenticity of their own creative signature. The first day of the Week ended with a collection provocatively entitled "Empire of dirt", created by the top American model and actress Erin Wasson, the face of the cosmetic brand Maybelline NY, who was offering her own view as a contemporary urbanite on country style. Leading Malaysian designer Sonny San successfully balanced classic oriental elements with western fashion trends. The Spanish fashion house Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, as always, impressed with its unusual fashion solutions. Italy's strongest fashion company came to Russian Fashion Week accompanied by a delegation from Italy's national chamber of fashion, the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, headed by its president Mario Boselli and its general manager Giulia Pirovano. Six young designers (Gilda Giambra, Leitmotiv, Cristiano Burani, Mauro Gasperi, Chicca Lualdi BeeQueen and Andres) and two famous fashion houses - C'N'C Costume National and Gattinoni - were represented at the Italian day. At a joint press conference the Italian guests and Russian Fashion Week's general producer Alexander Shumsky again stressed the importance of the strategic cooperation between Russian Fashion Week and Milano Moda Donna and declared their intention to continue developing this partnership in the following year.

The Estelle Adoni network of salons and the French lingerie brands Lise Charmel, Antigel, Antinea and Eprise presented in their catwalk shows at Russian Fashion Week the current trends in European lingerie fashion. The star guests of this brilliant show highly rated these brands' new collections, the premiere of their cruise lines, and the virtuoso staging of an elegant and sumptuous show.

According to tradition the Russian Fashion Week programme was crammed with special projects. The week included a joint charitable event in conjunction with the "Life Line" fund, and the "Fashion cinema" film festival. The "Restaurant syndicate" offered a fashion menu from Russian Fashion Week designers in seven of the best Moscow restaurants, and the "Respublika" chain of shops put on Russian Fashion Week displays. The business programme put on by the "Artefakt" agency and Fashion Consulting Group allowed the press and guests at the Week to hear expert opinions from such authoritative fashion specialists as Godfrey Deeny, chief editor of Fashion Wire Daily, Andrei Burmatikov (Fashion Consulting Group) and Jim Villa, founder and owner of Grupo Villa-Longoria.

Moscow's night life also came to life during Russian Fashion Week. It was lit up by the famous Russian Fashion Week soirees - the presidential reception by Alexander Shumsky, general producer of Russian Fashion Week, in the Bamboo bar, and the Russian Fashion Week after-party at the Most Private Club, where the deejay was the well known top model and It girl Alexandra Richards, daughter of the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.

Russian Fashion Week Trailer


Russian designers invariably speak highly of the professional level of Russian Fashion Week:

Vyacheslav Zaytsev:"Russian Fashion Week is a stupendous occasion that is very important for all of us, and has become a most outstanding event of international significance."
Yulia Nikolayeva:"I love Russian Fashion Week for its avant-garde nature, its original set-up and its unusual `non-Soviet' view not only of fashion but also of what is happening in our country."
The designer Vassa:"Russian Fashion Week is fulfilling a mission to build a fashion industry in Russia. Apart from that it is the launch pad for young designers and, importantly, it offers the opportunity of closer cooperation for those who are already established."
Tatyana Parfenova:"Russian Fashion Week is a wonderful podium for showing designer collections. Here you don't have to worry about lots of important and second-degree organisational things. All you have to do is make your collection and bring it along. The shows are visited by the key mass media, and we get a full press report at the end of the event. There is excellent lighting, sound, casting, production, guest cafes and monitors - it's difficult to list everything the Week is equipped with. The main thing is it has very active and intelligent staff."
Yegor Zaytsev:"My passion for Russian Fashion Week is half due to its professional aspects: here there are more foreign journalists, students and professionals - people you can talk to. But there's also another half: the spirit of Russian Fashion Week. It seems to me there is something rock'n'roll about it, something impetuous and creative, and consequently something close to me."
Oleg Biryukov:"It's very pleasant to be immersed in the atmosphere of Moscow fashion once again. Russian Fashion Week is a professional event, full of energy and positive emotions. I'm very pleased with what's taking place, and also to be meeting the press and the audiences. Everything gets a plus mark from me."
Masha Kravtsova:"Russian Fashion Week is a wonderful fashion week. It helps the young people to break through and emerge at the international level. That's how it was in my case - in September I had my first show in Milan, organised by Russian Fashion Week."
Svetlana Tegin:"I liked the professional team that organised Russian Fashion Week. With their help it is possible to bring to life the boldest of fantasies which at first seem impossible."
Bessarion:"I would like to thank Alexander Shumsky, general producer of Russian Fashion Week, and the whole team for their efficiency and stability. It is a fact that in recent years the level and quality of Russian Fashion Week has grown significantly - and with it Russian fashion! I can say that my show was a 100 per cent success."

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