The anniversary season of Azerbaijan Fashion Week wrapped up on Sunday, closing out three days of dress, glamour and style in Baku. Now, in its tenth edition, the fashion extravaganza brought together fashion-lovers throughout the region, as well as local and foreign designers in the capital’s Stone Chronicle Museum.
The event, which held from November 22-24, showcased mesmerizing collections of the latest in clothing fashion for the 2020 spring and summer seasons. The Stone Chronicle Museum, which houses some of Azerbaijan’s stone and epigraphic monuments, showcased the works of designers from Azerbaijan, Morocco, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Russia.
In an interview with Caspian News, Sayad Dossybayev, Azerbaijan Fashion Week’s art director, commended on the results achieved over the ten seasons of Azerbaijan Fashion Week.
“Azerbaijan Fashion Week has become the most stable and professional platform for designers, where they can showcase their collections,” said Dossybayev. “Everything is sharp and clear with us, we want to have a clear fashion niche that will sooner or later bear fruit.”
This season’s main guest that dazzled the audience with the beauty of Oriental fashion was Oriental Fashion Show (OFS), the leading fashion platform that brings together contemporary high-end fashion designers originating from Central Asia, the Middle East and the Far East. Since its launch in 2004, OFS has presented collections of over 100 designers from more than 50 different countries, in Paris, Marrakech, Istanbul, and Abu Dhabi.
On an opening day, Hind Joudar, a founder of the Oriental Fashion Show, presented the collections of Fatima Zahra Idrissi and Hind Morad, designers from Morocco, as well as Faiza Antri Bouzar, a designer from Algeria, to celebrate the tenth edition of Azerbaijan Fashion Week.
“Oriental Fashion Show that we work with on a regular basis, has been Azerbaijan Fashion Week’s partner over the last four years,” emphasized Dossybayev.
Elegant evening gowns, wedding dresses, suits, fur skirts, and even fur corsets were featured by Azerbaijani designers, Noora, Gunel Behbudova, Ulker Hasanova, Shan Atelier, GM Fashion, Giedi, RM Couture, Velour, as well as Scandar, who worked as a volunteer before and made a splash at the ninth season. Azerbaijani fashion brands were showcased on each day within the tenth edition of Azerbaijan Fashion Week.
Dossybayev commended on Azerbaijani designers, saying that they are “very competitive in the market” considering their success in Moscow, Paris and Almaty. “I will say with confidence that their talent and vision of fashion corresponds to global trends,” he added.
Looking towards the future of the fashion industry in Azerbaijan, the art director of the show expressed his hopes that Azerbaijan Fashion Week will be supported within the promotion of the “Made in Azerbaijan” brand. Dossybayev expects that increased support for the event by the government structures such as the Ministry of Culture and the State Tourism Agency will help propel the industry domestically and help designers establish a presence abroad.
“We want everyone to talk about this project," said Dossybayev. “If a country holds its own fashion week, it demonstrates the modernity and dynamics of development in this country.”
“Fashion is such a segment without which our life would be meaningless. We all dress up, and having the “Made in Azerbaijan” label on clothing is beautiful and worthy. Therefore, we call for the creation of a stable fashion week that will be on the same level with the others,” added Dossybayev.
The latest fashion week was held at the Stone Chronicle Museum, which showcases the prehistoric life in the region. It was chosen as the venue for the three-day fashion event for the third year in a row.