Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia - Sustainable transformation

April 19 through 24, the spring season of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia took place in the Museum of Moscow. Fashion shows were arranged in Russia’s capital and 6 other cities, including Milan. Italian brands Hand Picked, Collini, Daniela de Souza, Vuarnet and others introduced their new collections at the Milan-based Sari Spazio Showroom. Other venues were St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Sochi and Chelyabinsk. Designers from Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, France, Germany, India, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, South Korea, Spain, UK, USA, and Japan showcased their new collections as video presentations.

Right during this season, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia became the winner of Tagline Awards, a major competition in digital for the Eastern Europe, as the Best Art/Culture/Entertainment Campaign. The Jury awarded the 2020 fall season of MBFW Russia (having taken place in October 2020) with the golden award.
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia was live streamed at 100+ websites of the global media websites and social networks. Recorded streams are still available in VK, the largest social media in Russia and the CIS.

SUSTAINABLE TRANSFORMATION
In this season, the key subject for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia was conscious consumption. In collaboration with Vtoroe Dykhanie Fund, Russian Fashion Council started a sustainable fashion project - every day, secondhand clothes were accepted in the Museum of Moscow to be used in creation of new collections. Russian brands RigRaiser and VINA sticking to upcycling methods are going to use some of the turned in garments to make their new collections for the new MBFW Russia season scheduled for October in Moscow. The Fund will save the unclaimed pieces for recycling.
The upcycling concept found support at the venues of MBFW Russia, too. In this season, MBFW Russia decided not to make new brand clothing for volunteers and organizers, totaling to 300+ people. Instead, Moscow-based VINA brand made customized uniform for the Fashion Week staff, using secondhand clothes for that.
The new season of #MBFWRussia welcomed 14 brands that follow certain sustainable guidelines - upcycling, recycling, and slow fashion. Emerging designers Mesew Butenko, Tkachuk, Icone, and Arina Georgieva in collaboration with Laska (Henkel company) presented their NOT NEW Collection of 20 exclusive looks, specially designed from the garments showcased during previous Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia seasons. The underlying concept in this collaboration is #RethinkFashion that supports and promotes reasonable consumption.

DIGITAL PLATFORM
The online venue of the event was https://mbfwrussia.ru/en digital platform that offered the visitors a downloadable moodboard making guide, an inspo finding checklist, as well as a music playlist made by designers taking part in MBFW Russia. Moreover, the platform has other issue-related materials - a guide on digital illustration, a selection of fashion films on ethical fashion, a guide on sustainable fashion, as well as a dyeing guide. Exclusive materials for the platform were developed by designers participating in MBFW Russia, popular bloggers, and eco-activists.

Another treat for the users is online games and tests. Sounds for online games, the main background of MBFW Russia were generated by Artificial Intelligence in Endel app.

NEVER BEFORE AT THE FASHION WEEK
Specially for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia, T-fashion platform that forecasts fashion trends with the help of AI analyzed collections of the participating designers. To check the AI-based trend analysis go to https://mbfwrussia.ru/en digital platform.
For the first time ever, MBFW Russia was participated by virtual stylist EQVI. Never before was there a real-time collaboration between designers and a virtual stylist. After the show by FASHION REBELS and the online presentation by /SELFÉTUDE, EQVI talked with the guests and the viewers about the designer collections, demonstrated the garments in the app, and then guests and viewers of MBFW Russia were able to make a pre-order of their favorite models.

TIKTOK REALITY SHOW
The spring season of MBFW Russia saw the second edition of TikTok reality show. The presenters were popular journalists, bloggers, and influencers, whereas the guests were fashion designers and industry experts. Participants of the reality discussed the designer’s way from finding an inspiration to making a collection, from topical trend analysis to brand promotion. This time, streams on TikTok took 883 minutes, and in 5 days they were watched by 400 thousand unique viewers. 10 most viewed show were: Institute of business and design (B&D), Julia Dalakian, ROGOV, TSIGANOVA RUSSIAN STYLE x Konyukhov, VOLEGOV, OTOCYON, Svetlana Evstigneeva x Pavel T, Lada Sergunina, It is ART PIECE and Mercedes-Benz presents Emma Bruschi.

DESIGNERS AT MBFW RUSSIA
The following Russian designers presented their collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia: RUBAN, ROGOV, Vereja, /SELFÉTUDE, o5o,  OTOCYON, ZA_ZA, Yana Besfamilnaya, NASTYA NEKRASOVA, N.LEGENDA, Sasha Gapanovich, 1377, HARD by HSE Art&Design School, Lyubov Babitskaya, K TITOVA, BOYARI, RE / MARKA, Institute of Business and Design (B&D), FASHION REBELS, ELENA SOUPROUN, ALENA NEGA, Julia Dalakian, Lasscutok, Lada Sergunina, LEADER by VADIM MERLIS, Lena Kаrnauhova, TSIGANOVA with her collection RUSSIAN STYLE & Konyukhov, M.I.R.277, NOT NEW COLLECTION by Laska, PROfashion Masters (Ksenia Demianenko, Lyudmila Gorkovenko, Ksenia Vlasova and Evgeniya Sinkova, Emiliya Tokranova, Nikolay Vorobyov), VOLEGOV, Semiletova, SERGEY SYSOEV Fashion School KOSYGIN UNIVERSITY, Teplitskaya design, Svetlana Evstigneeva x Pavel T, participants of LongFashionWeekend (Ermakovishna, ELSOBO, CHUMA, TATIANA RADYGINA, caboclobad), It is ART PIECE, VINA, PARLE, and others.
Designers from across the globe joined the event, including 13/7, LINUS LEONARDSSON, Mercedes-Benz presents Emma Bruschi, ANCIELA, ANNAISS YUCRA, CHRISTOPH RITTER STUDIO, CUTE-SAINT, Elisa De Cordova, FEMME DE MARS, Garcia Bello, GRACIELA HUAM, GUIDO VERA, Vivano, Kyle Ho, Camille Defago, Mercedes De Alba, Moon Chang, NS GAIA, PAINTERS, VALENTINS, Rommel, Collini, Sharra Pagano, Hand Picked, Pantofola d’Oro, Vuarnet, Daniela de Souza, TOMMAZO, Viviano, as well as participants of Mexico Fashion Week specially for MBFW Russia – Collectiva Concepción, Vero Díaz, and Alejandra Raw.
This season, for the first time, Mercedes-Benz presented Emma Bruschi. This showcase during MBFW Russia was a part of Bruschi’s grant, having been recognised by Mercedes-Benz and Fashion Open Studio for her sustainable practice as the best in show during the mentorship programme at the 35th International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères. Bruschi also won the Chanel Métiers d'art 19M Prize. Fascinated by the people, flora and fauna of agricultural communities, Bruschi’s “Almanach” collection looked for inspiration toward the farmers of the French Savoyard region, and their yearly almanac. Filmmaker Roddy Ziebell and photographer Julien Boudet bring Bruschi’s story to life through their distinctive creative lens.