October 16, 2009
National dress festival, which took place in the Centre of National arts, was unanimously called “the most beautiful fashion show by the guests of Art Week Style.uz – 2009. Designers persistently appealed not to forget the history, to follow the age-old traditions and to draw the inspiration from the past. The unique “formula” of real eastern style gave an opportunity to reflect in the collections all the variety of national textiles, textures, ornaments and silhouettes, presenting the spectators the full picture of Uzbek costume’s esthetic range.
Fashion show recalled a fascinating journey through the pages of eastern fairy tales. “Turning over” the collection by collection delighted public presented the exquisite creations of Uzbek designers with applause.
Airy “enchantress” putting on textiles with delicate tints, fragile princesses, whose heads were crowned with miniature crowns, glided along the runway. Light textures, streaming drapery and florid delicate decoration added charm and created an atmosphere of weightlessness.
In spite of fairy-tale mood, the whole tendency of festival concluded in the “revival” of traditional national costume, in the creation of the “antique” collection considering the requirements of modern fashion. And indeed, the offers of the designers, who took part in the project, were very restrained, comfortable and practical.
Godfrey Deeny, Fashionwiredaily reporter (Italy):
- Due to my work I have an opportunity to visit many fashion weeks in Paris, Milan and others, but I would like to notice that Tashkent Art Week vary from them by its format and eventfulness of the agenda. Very beautiful clothes were presented in the Festival of National Dress; especially national textile was very impressive. I’ve seen the collections of 15 designers and I would note that during three-four years the level of designers art has risen.
Guli Razzakova, designer (Uzbekistan):
- The name of my collections is “Azure wanderer”. Famous Uzbek poet and prose writer Timur Zulfikarov’s creativity was the basis of my collection. Absolutely by chance I came across a book, the name of which was “Azure wanderer”. It happened in spring, when I was in Bukhara. Taking a walk in old city I saw exactly those textiles, which I needed for my future collection. Rereading Zulfikarov’s book, I tried to remember the details. If the poet can express that beauty with words, I decided to express it in my collection. These textiles, which remind textiles of the clothes of dervishes, were of faded tone. Usually I use vivid tones of textiles; there is always riot of colour in my collections. As the all other creative people, I wanted to experiment and this time I decided to appeal to the frayed pale tones, creating the image of dervishes, who carry the beauty of Uzbek original culture, uniqueness and richness of our heritage. The special appeals of my collection are accessories, ornaments made of unusual and non traditional materials. Also shoes deserve a special attention, maybe someone will recognize in them age-old detail of wardrobe – “ichigi”.
Zulfiya Rakhmatullina, designer (Uzbekistan):
- On current Week I presented 7 models in “Eastern graphics” collection, all of them are made of antiques natural cloth - China silk, which was decorated with national tape “djiyak”. Other designers also have interesting models. Especially I liked the collection of Saodat Muratkhodjaeva; she has got a constructive collection very unusual for our country. Art Week for designers is a good opportunity to make them known, to show their capacity, and it is a good perspective for youth. I take part in this project every year, and every time I try to present something new, thanks to the organizers, who give us an opportunity to demonstrate our work to the wide auditory. Most importantly, our national culture, modern vision of ancient traditions, interesting godsends of Uzbek designers are presented in this week.
Holida Komilova, Chairperson of the Association of Modelers “Osiyo Ramzi” (Symbol of Asia):
- The current show differs from the previous ones with the practicality of looks. We shortened the nomination “Ethnography” and paid more attention to modern looks of national textiles. They were developed in accordance with recommendations of fashion designers concerning colors, ornaments as well as textile structures. And the most important was that we mainly focused on construction, production technology, correctness of textile choosing, décor. Shortly speaking, we set more strict requirements to designers in order to choose out more practical clothes. Just for that reason, the festival was attended by representatives of manufacturing enterprises who came to get acquainted with masters and in further engage them to the production.
Marhamat Umarova, fashion designer of the Dom Stilya (Uzbekistan):
- I participated at the Festival for the fifth time and presented two collections. For this Week I prepared two collections. One of the collections was demonstrated within the Underground project as the other one at the Festival of National Dress. I titled my collection “Return to origins”. The collection included various looks of adras designed with European patterns and shoyi with batik, all with specially cut sleeves and pockets. Generally, the collection is identified with modern silhouettes wrapped with national textiles. I used special color combinations, perhaps, a little audacious, for instance, lettuce green with purple colors. Yet, at least, they look great. The last model of my collection was made of the textile having almost a hundred year of history. Because of uniqueness of the textile, we treated it carefully. I tried not to cut even the smallest part of it, and I managed. As a result, one-of-a-kind evening dress we have. I was fortuned to have such a textile that turned into the dress the people saw. I should note that grand cultural events are held regularly despite the difficult periods. Moreover, such events are growing in number year to year aimed at supporting talented youth. We constantly feel the care of the Fund Forum, thank you very much.
Lali Fozilova, designer (Uzbekistan):
- Collection I presented for the Festival of National Dress is called “Veil”. I dedicated it to my beloved Tashkent city. Our national textiles such as adras, khon-atlas, and natural silks in combination with state-of-the-art developments of textile manufacturers, European fabrics, and luxury laces were used for the collection’s looks: evening dresses with hand-made design, mainly, tambour embroidery and beads. Moreover, we developed headwear and accessories as well as shoes, that is, from head to toe. I believe my collection would find a response among people, especially women. I am very glad that every fall we have the days of art and fashion and that I am also engaged in that. We, fashion designers, totally devote to the creation process not caring about organizational moments, the Fund Forum undertook. I am grateful to everyone who assisted us in presenting our collections.
