Art Week StyleUz 2011

Year by year one of my classmates from the same institute takes part in Fashion Week in my hometown, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Once I had a chance to see the show and was overwhelmed by the talent and creativity, and there is a catch: all designers present collections made of traditional materials. That's always a challenge to combine folk fabrics and modern trends, make it wearable without looking costumy.
Here are the best looks from the runway, sorry for not knowing which look belongs which designer. But hands up to everyone!

Originally Uzbek fabrics are in vivid color combinations of 4: red, electric blue, green and gold yellow. And as the students we had a hard time imaging designing something out of it. Now when colors got soften and mutted I get inspired by textiles too.

For me the best ikat (traditional print) is ... blue

or even better with a touch of purple

Couldn't imagine even the wedding dress is in the print. Just WOW!

Once again I would say I am very proud of you, guys!

Art Deco trend

Art Deco was widely considered to be an eclectic form of elegant and stylish modernism, being influenced by a variety of sources. The ability to travel and archaeological excavations during this time influenced artists and designers, integrating several elements from countries not their own. Among them were historical styles such as Greco-Roman Classicism, as well as the art of Babylon, Assyria, Ancient Egypt, Aztec Mexico and Africa.
Art Deco is characterized by use of materials such as aluminium, stainless steel, lacquer, Bakelite, Chrome and inlaid wood. Exotic materials such as sharkskin (shagreen), and zebra skin were also evident.
The structure of Art Deco is based on trapezoidal, zigzagged, geometric, and jumbled shapes.
At its best, Art Deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity.
Coming back from wiki-history, designer Holly Fulton evoked that trend few years back and made it her signature style. Here some of the looks through out the years:

 Check the stand out jewelry.

Why do you think so many designers like Gucci, Etro, Carolina Herrera presented collections inspired by the fashion movement? Were they influenced by the same designer? I say, no.
I see a tendency of the tribal trend of previous seasons transforming into it's glamorous side.
Elegance of the era:

Etro brought Jazz Age with more colors and easy movements:

Glamorous side of Art Deco:

Character graphics in Carolina Herrera:

 
The trend still excites creative minds of Rachel Roy and Naeem Khan for Pre-fall 2012, the rest of the items we already can purchase in favourite stores.

Pre-fall 2012 trend report

Not all fashion houses present their Pre-Fall collections, so there is a small review of upcoming autumn season trends for the next year. To define what the pre-fall collection is please click here
Major trend is the autumn colors: orange, burnt reds, rustic browns, faded greens, purples - the shades of fallen leaves and sunset. By the way Pantone announced tangerine tango is the color for 2012.

The next trend is achromatic, that characterised by incredible print or texture; or print, that looks like texture.

Another trend of the season is hourglass silhouette with the details defining our waist: belts, peplums (depends on body types) or just perfectly tailored attire to show our girly curves.

The Royal Wedding of the year sparked a new trend of modest and understated elegance.

Dubai fashion arena, 2008

I have decided to share some glorious and not so moments on Dubai fashion arena over the past years.
Year 2008, June as I remember I participated in Hotel Uniform design competition, first ever kind of competition held during The Hotel Show. Our teacher in the Centre for Executive Education announced that, and we had a chance to present sketches and material board on A3. This competition was sponsored by A. Ronai company and an winning design was promised to be made by them. I was the first to deliver my papers to one of the business towers on Sheikh Zayed road.
So few days before the winner announcement (2nd day of exhibition) my teacher really insisted for me to come there, even when I mentioned I had visited the show on 1st day. Probably that was a clue for me. Of course, I went there with my fellow students and... got a prize: flowers, certificate, internship in A. Ronai, dinning voucher for 2 and a lot of pictures.

The wining garment looked different from what I had imagined, since it was more adopted to the daily wear.

I remember when I came back home, called my boyfriend (now husband) and I was literally flying on the wings of happiness, seemed like I could change the world. Good feeling.
Much later I got a week of intership in A. Ronai with designer David Sprakes. For me that was so cool,  he was working with Wacom tablet! One day we went to the warehouse and another day to a hotel that placed the order for uniforms with them, so fittings, discussing designs with Housekeeping Manager and etc.
Wacom tablet was a dream for me for a long time. Thanks to my IT loving husband, one day he surprised me with it (A3 size), since then I was learning Adobe Illustrator CS4 and CS5. which have great features for fashion illustration.