Reconstruction in Tashkent prior to the opening
I've been in Tashkent for the last week working on the installation and opening of Reconstruction: Cultural Heritage and the Making of Contemporary Fashion which opened on the 23rd as part of Style.Uz Art Week continuing on from its first stop in Kazakstan. Style.Uz is an annual celebration of art and design in Tashkent which feature a string of exhibitions throughout the city. This year the event is running in tandem with the 6th Annual Tashkent International Biennale of Contemporary Art, a cinema forum, a theatre festival and a national dress festival.
The opening ceremony celebrations were a bit dampened by heavy rain, but everyone crowded inside around the catwalk and watched the festivities from there. Steve McNulty, the director of British Council Uzbekistan, gave one of the opening speeches and helped to cut the opening ribbon. We had also helped to organise a competition with the visiting staff from the London College of Fashion for students on fashion courses at the local colleges to design collection inspired by British style and Uzbek traditions. Steve presented the awards to the four winners, which included prizes of design books. I was on the judging panel with the staff from the London College of Fashion and the Tashkent Textile Institute, and I have to commend the students on their high quality of work. There were over 40 entries and a great range of work - I have to say there seem to be many talented young fashion illustrators in Uzbekistan! The winner was a very young and unassuming girl whose work was hugely interesting, beautiful and clever.
Following the presentation of awards, Carla Sorrell, who accompanied me for the installation, gave a presenation on Reconstruction and her experience last year in Uzbekistan for the exhibition of Basso&Brooke's capsule collection inspired by their time in the country. She certainly made quite an impression on the audience, and afterwards many people approached her for press interviews, photographs and even autographs!
The exhibition has had a great deal of excitement around it. Visitors are keen to have their photographs taken alongside the displays. Everyone seems to have their own favourite stand, and they've been asking many questions about the fashion industry in Britain. There have been a range of other activities taking place at the catwalk adjacent to the exhibition which have brought over curious visitors. On the opening evening, staff from the London College of Fashion gave a masterclass on 'Combining National Tradition and Modern Trends in Fashion.' In May 2011, some young Uzbek designers visited the London College of Fashion to give a masterclass on a similar subject. The workshop used traditional Uzbek fabrics to create contemporary designs, and it was suggested that the class be added to the curriculum at the university due to the quality of the work produced.
On Monday there was a special exhibit by the Keimyung University College of Fashion in South Korea, and a fashion show of young Uzbek designers called Underground. There were 19 collections shown, including work by graduates of Kamoliddin Bekzod National Institute of Arts and Design and the Tashkent Institute of Textiles and Light Industry. The Underground show provides a platform for the young Uzbek designers to introduce themselves to the national industry. For Reconstruction, it was a great opportunity to see how the local designers integrate Uzbek traditions into contemporary design. Examples of this would be the designer Da-Shik! using Uzbek fabrics in a western style of dress with milinery referencing the shape of traditional Uzbek headwear. The fashion show brought a number of young designers to see Reconstruction, where they curiously asked many questions about the work from the UK.
On Tuesday there was also a masterclass led by the Lycée La Martinière-Diderot and a fashion show by the Italian menswear designer Corneliani. Throughout the rest of the week there will also be shows by Roberto Cavalli and Ermanno Scervino. The exhibition closes on October 28th, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens the rest of the week. Next stop Bangladesh!
