Five designers you need to know from Tbilisi fashion week.

Forget New York, London, Paris, and Milan (at least for a minute). When it comes to fashion right now, the city with the loudest buzz surrounding it is the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Situated at the point where Europe meets Asia and Russia, Tbilisi is a melting pot of creativity where cultures clash and a new generation of designers are asserting themselves as ones-to-watch on the international fashion stage. While a certain Balenciaga designer might be the reason all eyes turned towards the city in the first place, there’s a reason it still has our attention three years on.

Showcasing exactly what the city has to offer was this season’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi, which took place last weekend. Featuring a diverse line-up of established brands, rising talent, and those looking to shake up the industry, the vibrant city played host to fashion insiders for a weekend of shows, talks and events that spanned all four corners of the capital. In addition to the main showspace – an incredible Soviet-era circus – designers presented collections in venues including the Tbilisi Institute of Physics, and the imposing Brutalist structure that houses the National Science Library.

First up, though, was Gosha Rubchinskiy, who kicked things off with an intimate conversation in underground techno club Bassiani. Returning to the venue two days later, the designer also threw theparty of the weekend alongside DJs signed to his new record label, Rassvet Records. Elsewhere on the schedule, The Situationist showed its latest gender-blurring offering as part of a co-ed show in an old movie studio, while George Keburia followed up last season’s presentation with a series of sugary-hued futuristic silhouettes, voluminous spotted smocks, and, yes, his signature tiny shades (which still haven’t lost their appeal, FYI). Also making waves was promising Spanish designer Célia Valverde, who made her debut in Tbilisi as part of the Mercedes-Benz International Design Exchange Program, and Gola Damian, who re-launched the Chaos Concept Store with a bang (literally).

Full story at Dazed Digital.

By Emma Elizabeth Davidson.