By JRS
Following a disappointing cancellation of its Fall/Winter2009/2010 fashion week this past March, Russian Fashion Week is back in full swing for the Spring/Summer season.
The past four seasons have established it as a regular entry in the world fashion calendar next to national fashion weeks in Paris, Milan, London, NY. Russian Fashion Week which is held in Moscow twice per year, in April and October, covers all of the former Soviet Union, the so-called Russian-speaking territory. The RFW basics are Russian designers, but every season sees the best designers from former Soviet republics: Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Georgia, etc.
Every season, the RFW Organizing Committee studies over 100 entries but chooses only the best collections for the RFW runways. Russian Fashion Week has always cooperated with fashion weeks from around the World. As a result RFW has its continues cooperation with Milan Fashion Week and CNMI and for the past year started cooperation with fashion weeks in China, Greece, South Africa, Canada, Mexico, Portugal, etc. International Days which are held in the frames of RFW on a regular basis have already presented Spanish, UK, Italian and American designers to Russian publicity.
A model presents a creation by the Russian fashion house "Fresh Art" during a show at the Russian Fashion Week in a night club in Moscow
Russian Fashion Week has joint ventures with the world’s largest fashion institutions. These collaborations result in national designer days during RFW’s biannual events. In the fall of 2004, “British Day” was held, featuring Matthew Williamson, Sophia Kokosalaki, Jenny Packham and other top English designers. British Day was organized with the British Fashion Council and London Fashion Week, and was so successful, that several British designers participating in RFW’s Fall-Winter 2005 event applied for the following RFW seasons. In Spring 2005, Russian Fashion Week invited Spanish designers Konrad Muhr, Alma Aguilar, Devota& Lomba, Isabel de Pedro, Armand Basi and Agatha Ruiz de la Prada. The Spanish Day was run in conjunction with the Spanish Foreign Trade Institute and Spanish Fashion Designers’ Association. In Autumn 2005, in October, the RFW hosted the Italian Day supported by Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana. Mario Boselli, Camera Nazionale’s President and RFW Producer General Alexander Shumsky, announced the Italy and Russia’s major fashion weeks have become long-term promotional partners.
Italian Day has featured top designers like Romeo Gigli, Guerriero, Exte’, La Perla, and Pollini by Rifat Ozbek, and Milan Fashion Week will showcase Russia’s top designers. RFW spring-summer 2007 season International Day was dedicated to the US. American Designers Baby Phat, Laundry by Shelli Segal and Rebecca Taylor presented their summer 2007 collections in the frames of American Day on RFW. Later on Chinese Day and another Spanish Day were held in frames of RFW. Russian Fashion Week International Cooperation with other countries will lead to more International Days.
RFW also undertakes international cooperation activities worldwide. RFW steps abroad started in September 2005, when, following the partnership agreement between RFW and Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, RFW designers were presented at RFW stand at Milano Moda Donna. In September 2006 a collective show of 3 top RFW designers was successfully held at Milano Moda Donna s/s 2007. In November 2006 China Fashion Week hosted the Russia Day showcasing 5 top RFW designers’ s/s 2007 collections. Later on multiple shows of RFW designers were successfully held at L’Oreal Fashion Week (Canada), Lisbon Fashion Week (Portugal), Athens Exclusive Designers Week (Greece), Fashion Forward (Athens), Nokia Cape Town Fashion Week (South Africa). More shows worldwide are scheduled for the near future, including one at Malaysia International Fashion Week in November 2008.
Fashion Week in Moscow dates back to 1994. For the first ten years, this event was concentrated on the presentation of haute couture collections from Russian designers and leading fashion houses. After 2003, however, Fashion Week has changed its format and now takes place twice a year (at the end of March and October) and involves the presentation of prêt-a-porter clothes.
The foundation of this new format is based on prêt-a-porter clothes and prêt-a-porter de luxe collections. The main objectives of Fashion Week in Moscow, however, continue to be the development of the Russian fashion industry, the promotion of Russian designers, and the presentation of the best examples from world fashion on the runway.
Moscow’s stage for this event has been set in the Congress Hall of Moscow’s World Trade Center. The shows will commence October 17th and continue until the 24th.
