Photo courtesy of the Armenian Chamber of Fashion and Design
There is great anticipation in Yerevan for the first edition of the Armenian Fashion Week, to be held in early July. The ambitious event is the first of its kind in the country
Armenia has never had a Fashion Week of international scope, and for an event of this type to take shape, various components must come to fruition. We talked about it on a sunny morning in Yerevan with one of the two organisers, Vahan Kachatryan, President of the Chamber of Fashion and Design.
We spoke to Vahan in 2016, when his career as a stylist was in full swing. At the time he had expressed the desire to be a forerunner, and highlighted how important it was to get out of a certain isolation of the country from the world of fashion.
Seven years later, the first Fashion Week will bring 25 Armenian or Armenian-born designers to the catwalks. In addition to the Armenian citizens, in fact, three Armenians from the diaspora from France, Lebanon, and the Russian Federation will showcase their work in front of an international audience: about thirty guests from the sector and from the specialised press from England, Germany, the Emirates, Lebanon, and – in the lion's share – Italy will attend three days of fashion shows, from 1 to 3 July, plus three of showrooms. There will also be a cultural programme for guests, even though time is limited, to make the country and its culture known and appreciated.
Photo courtesy of the Armenian Chamber of Fashion and Design
We asked Vahan what made it possible to achieve this ambitious goal in recent years, what elements have created the critical mass to make a leap in quality. “Going from one fashion show to twenty-five in a single event is not trivial. So the first requirement is that we, the stylists and the organisation, were ready. But this is only one cog in a much more complex mechanism that makes a Fashion Week possible”. A second important requirement is the threshold of interest that must be crossed towards a product for it to attract enough to become an event. The product is Armenian fashion and textile industry.
A new life for Armenian textiles
Armenian textiles have an ancient tradition, but are less branded than nearby productions, for example from Turkey or Iran. From carpets to fabrics and fabric prints, Armenian culture has generated quality products which, however, have not yet become as recognisable and marketable as those across the border. Yet, on the basis of previous knowledge and professionalism, an internal production has taken shape in the last decade which has gradually gained national attention first and foremost.
“If you have to look for a bit of luck in bad luck, an encouragement to reevaluate domestic production came from the 2020 war. The war shock led many Armenians to boycott Turkish products, including textiles, and to pay more attention to local production. At the time it happened, Armenian stylists were ready with their products and today in the very central Sayat Nova, at number 5, there is 5concept , a shop that displays Armenian-created collections where Armenians and foreigners can discover and buy Armenian fashion”.
The union of creatives has been strong not only in being able to conquer an exhibition space in the city centre, but also in creating a tool that could act as a pressure group for those who work in the fashion sector. This is how the Chamber of Fashion and Design was born, with the aim of providing a platform for all designers to – as its mission states – "join efforts into a unifying organisation to support their needs and challenges as well as represent them in relations with suppliers, government officials, and other partners in Armenia and abroad”.
The role of institutions
And in fact, one of the mechanisms that had to be unlocked for Fashion Week to take shape was the support of national and international agents who financed it. The government has recently launched a strategy for the textile industry, the first of its kind. A Department for the textile and creative industry has been created in the Ministry of Economy.
In short, the government has moved in the direction of promoting the sector and has made a good percentage of funding available for Fashion Week. Then there is the German GIZ foundation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). Private sponsors also attended. The British are also very active, having financed a Fashion Scout within the event which will guarantee the winners a visit to London Fashion Week and an internship in a fashion company in Florence.
Vahan tells us: “Funds are limited, it's the first edition and it will take a good turnout for the Week to become a regular event. It's an effort for everyone, and the initial budget has ballooned as the event has taken shape. It wasn't easy because the first criterion for allocating funds is absolute transparency, for which the margins of approximation of the expenditure items were very narrow, but we did it and managed to put together the logistics, the show, and professional teams”. Vahan and his colleague Helen Manukyan cooperate and coordinate the various teams: models, make-up, administration, and various technicians who will take care of the flow of the fashion shows.
Yerevan Fashion Week is the result of a process. The world of Armenian fashion has been growing for years, creating international contacts through other Fashion Weeks, or realities such as White Milan and Pitti Super, presenting itself to the national and international public, and creating spaces for a sector that has its own historic role in the country's identity, and which now also has institutional recognition. At the same time, the Fashion Week intends to be the first step in a new process that will bring to fruition what has been done so far, creating a new dimension and visibility.
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