MilliOnAir Magazine July/August | Page 234

Yet they are overcoming these challenges and breaking out of Georgia to share their talent across the globe. There isn’t an international fashion magazine across the globe that isn’t writing about the fashion talent in Tbilisi, so all eyes are focussed on this fashion capital to see where our next trends will come from.

One thing that I found surprising when I first visited the fashion week was how supportive the designers were of each other. Having been used to European and American brands being so secretive and fearful of other brands and designers, I was surprised to find such a collaborative approach in Georgia. From the Vetements collective led by Gvasalia to fashion house Material, which has become a kind of incubator for creative directors, there is an inherent supportive attitude. The designers support each other’s shows and there appears to be a very close community with designers, stores, factories and industry bodies all working together.

One way that this became apparent to me this season was when I went to visit the new flagship store from handbag brand Moods Collection. I have followed Moods Collection for a couple of seasons and love the bags, so was thrilled to support owner Nino Giorgadze and visit her new store in Tbilisi. In the store Nino has curated a great display of the brands own collection ,but also invited other Georgian fashion designers to showcase their work in store. The new store is in a prime location, based on the same street, Kote Afkhazi Street, as my favourite concept stores DOTS and Materiel, which sell many of the designers showing at MBFW Tbilisi.

There were too many fantastic brands at MBFW Tbilisi to talk about in this feature, but alongside all my favourites this season, including Irma De Flore, Elenny, Mach & Mach, Babukhadia, Eloshi, Liya and Materiel, there are a couple I have to pick out.

One of the benefits of the fashion week is the stunning locations around Tbilisi that the designers choose to host their shows in. These include stunning homes, the Writers House, a Silk Factory, car parks, traditional restaurants, basketball courts and even the Opera House, but this season two brands went one step further.