Vibskov Emenius "The Circular Series", Photo: Edel Kelly

Henrik Vibskov and Andreas Emenius recently brought their performance series to America for the first time. Vibskov Emenius performed Project 8 and Project 9 of The Circular Series, Section 4 at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC.

The Circular Series is an original site-specific performance based on human rituals, the constructions we build, and social isolation, using the contrasts of a large rigid geometric structure interacting with chaos, represented by explosions of color.

Vibskov Emenius, "The Circular Series" Photo: Edel Kelly

Vibskov and Emenius met in 2007 at Central Saint Martins and have been touring internationally with “The Fringe Projects.” The project was made into a book in 2009; the Circular Series is the 2010 follow up to The Fringe Projects. If you missed Vibskov Emenius in DC, see them in in Brazil in September where they will perform Project 10 at the Curitaba Design Biennale. In between, Henrik will stop by his home country to show his Fall fashion line for Copenhagen Fashion Week on August 13th.

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Interwoven Arts

"Alexander McQueen" by David LaChapelle

Fashion visionary Lee McQueen, creative director and founder of the Alexander McQueen label, was found dead in his home in London Thursday morning. The former creative director of the famous House of Givenchy and Gucci was mourned in the Lincoln Center Tents during the first day of Spring 2010’s Fashion Week.

Editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, commented: “Lee McQueen influenced a whole generation of designers. His brilliant imagination knew no bounds as he conjured up collection after collection of extraordinary designs.

“At one level he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius whose gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over. His death is the hugest loss to anyone who knew him and for very many who didn’t.”

His visions graced numerous red carpets in recent years, most recently by Lady Gaga.

Alexander McQueen from Paris Fashion Week, Fall 2009

McQueen was a master at calling fashion’s bluff; inevitably being courted by under-zealous contemporaries who called him one of fashion’s greatest influencers. Cindy Weber Cleary, Fashion director for InStyle, said of McQueen: “He was a huge talent, a master of tailoring and always willing to push the envelope. He was forward thinking.”

An example of such forward-thinking fashion would have to be his runway littered with broken mirrors and shredded Givenchy “little black dresses” during Paris’s Fall 2009 Fashion Week.

SPREAD chooses not to speculate on the details surrounding Lee McQueen’s death, but bids farewell to a true cultural instigator who made a noticeable impact during his relatively short career.

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.