{"id":29297,"date":"2026-05-12T04:59:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T04:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/?p=29297"},"modified":"2026-05-12T04:59:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T04:59:55","slug":"existence-is-resistance-5-key-takeaways-from-mercedes-benz-fashion-week-tbilisi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/?p=29297","title":{"rendered":"\u201cExistence Is Resistance\u201d: 5 Key Takeaways From Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I first visited Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (MBFW) Tbilisi in 2018, and at the time, the city was full of creative optimism. Demna, a famous Georgian fashion export, was making waves at Balenciaga and Vetements, and plenty of eyes were on the capital, scouting for the next breakout star. Designers, drag performers, and club kids alike were collaborating on subversive, politically charged shows and events, culminating in an output that was an electric m\u00e9lange of queer culture, performance, and bold resistance to the nation\u2019s Soviet roots.<\/p>\n

But MBFW Tbilisi has taken place intermittently over the years since. Following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, the nation\u2019s right-wing Georgian Dream party became increasingly conservative and pro-Russia, prompting political unrest and violent protests across the nation that both prevented fashion week and threatened the local creative community.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the government then passed an anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which has deeply affected Georgia\u2019s fashion industry, commercially and creatively. That same year, MBFW Tbilisi founder Sofia Tchkonia held Culture Days, a scaled-back take on fashion week allowing designers to express themselves and share their experiences with the world<\/a>, via exhibitions, installations, and shows. The Fall\/Winter 2026 edition of MBFW Tbilisi, which ran from May 7 to 11, was the first since May 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last few years, while we were on pause, a few Georgian designers continued to grow globally despite difficult circumstances,\u201d says Tchkonia, who founded MBFW Tbilisi in 2015. \u201cBut there was a clear need to bring back a strong platform that reconnects local talent with international buyers, press, and industry professionals. Relaunching MBFW Tbilisi is about supporting that momentum and creating opportunities for the next chapter of Georgian fashion.\u201d To bring it to life, Tchkonia secured existing partners Mercedes-Benz and Coca-Cola, alongside newer organizations like Stenheim and recent hotel opening The Telegraph.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike many creative industries, fashion in Georgia has been affected by economic uncertainty, regional instability, and broader geopolitical tensions,\u201d Tchkonia continues. \u201cThese realities impact production, logistics, investment, and international mobility. At the same time, the Georgian creative community has shown remarkable resilience. Designers have continued creating, adapting, and finding ways to stay internationally relevant despite difficult conditions. In many ways, those challenges have strengthened the authenticity and emotional depth of the work coming out of Georgia today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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God Era\u2019s show casting featured many iconic figures from the Tbilisi fashion scene, including designer and documentarian Tamuna Karumidze.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Photo: Courtesy of MBFW Tbilisi<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

MBFW Tbilisi FW26 featured 11 shows and three exhibitions, alongside a rich program of concerts, cultural events, dinners, and of course the drag ball, now a Tbilisi institution. \u201cThere is really something special here in Georgia,\u201d says Andam Prize founder Nathalie Dufour, who visited the capital for the third time this fashion week. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of commerciality, the inspiration is very rich, [from] Saint Laurent to Balenciaga, but there\u2019s something unique and dramatic about Georgian designers,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m sure it is not easy in terms of building an international career and finding buyers and press here. But the reason why they do what they do is so amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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I first visited Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (MBFW) Tbilisi in 2018, and at the time, the city was full of creative optimism. Demna, a famous Georgian fashion export, was making waves at Balenciaga and Vetements, and plenty of eyes were on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunthow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}