The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
The spring edition of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (MBFW) Russia is slated to run April 20 to 24, with a mix of in-person events in Moscow, as well as livestreamed shows featuring designers not only from the country’s capital, but also other cities and regions around Russia, and even the world.
Building from last autumn’s online-offline fashion week, MBFW Russia’s organising committee and Fashion Fund have opened applications for grants to Russian designers to show on the schedule with no entry fee. The addition of the livestreamed shows to the calendar means designers can be based anywhere, and still be eligible for grant support. Applications are open until March 31.
Though the shift of fashion weeks online has caused a great deal of consternation regarding the limitations of showing clothes without the experience of seeing, touching and feeling in person, it can also provide opportunities for fashion weeks to include more designers based outside traditional fashion capitals.
During its last edition, MBFW Russia perfectly demonstrated this advantage by delivering both a Moscow-based schedule, as well as livestreamed shows from designers in Russian cities like St. Petersburg, Yakutsk, Sochi and Krasnodar and from designers as far afield as Jakarta, Indonesia.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The only way to conquer the economic and ideological crisis now facing the global fashion industry is to help local designers grow in order to build our way towards a sustainable future,” Alexander Shumsky, president of the Russian Fashion Council and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia, and co-founder of Fashion Fund, explained.
“The previous season of MBFW Russia has shown us that the strategy of uniting local up-and-coming brands from different cities and countries in one schedule and thus creating one platform to give them a voice is a promising concept...this time we continue to create opportunities for them by joining efforts and adhering to the principles of sustainability, diversity and digitisation,” he added.
Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co are among the brands expanding in Perth, Australia in a bid to tap its mining, oil and gas wealth and newfound status as a travel hub.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Haiti’s sourcing crisis, Brazilian jewellery giant Vivara and Dubai’s Ramadan shopping season.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Supreme’s long-awaited Shanghai flagship opening, India imposes MIP on undervalued imports of synthetic knitted fabric and striking Sri Lankan workers continue to protest.
Imran Amed shares his observations from a trip to the wealthy desert metropolis, home to the most lucrative stores for many of the world’s top fashion brands.