Last spring Moscow Fashion Week strengthened its positions in Russia, as a leading event in designers' fashion, establishing the alliance with the international company IMG Fashion, the world leader in the marketing and management of the whole life style industry. Among the IMGs' clients there are such famous international arrangements and organizations as "Olympus Fashion Week", "Fashion Week in Milan", Wimbldon Tennis Tournament, Nobel Foundation, Oxford University, Manchester United Football Club, Grammy Premium, as well as famous persons from the world of sports, fashion and show-business: Zhizel, Elizabeth Herly, Michael Shumaher, Venus Williams, Ronaldo, and others.

    Moscow Fashion Week is famous not only for showing the leading Russian couturiers, but also for organizing the constantly working show-room for designers, participating in Gostiny Dvor activities. At the show-room guests of the Week can not only get to know more information about collections, but also buy the articles, taking their fancy. Leading Russian jewellery companies and decoration designers also presents their articles at the exhibition. This innovation is attracting professionals' attention to the Week, as well as the attention of ordinary people, who are fond of Russian vogue and design.

    Pret-a-porter de luxe collection by Valentin Udashkin has already been shown at Fashion Week in Milan, where it has met with popular critics' approval. The demonstration began with the appearance of the "Russian beauty", dressed in luxurious white fur clothes, falling down sensibly from her uncovered shoulders. The collection by Igor Chapurin has been recently shown in Paris with a great success: refined silhouettes in combination with a laconic range of colours: white, golden, and silvery fox, black and pearl mink. The history of the Russian military formation, created in 1914 and included the representatives of the Caucasian peoples, has become the theme of the collection "Wild Division" by Andrey Sharov. It can be retained in the memory for the eclectic combination of luxurious foxes with ascetic black leather, and for the interpretation of the theme of the military headwear, called "bashlyk", now forgotten.

     Alena Akhmadullina paid her attention to the period of constructivism in the 1920-ies. The high-bulk fur opera-mantles have been made of natural and plucked mink with trimmed geometrical traceries, reminding a range of colours from old playbills : a little discolorated black colour, brownish, and white colour, turned yellow with years.  The brutal style, blameless accomplishment, and creative technologies are traditionally combined in BOS BISON'S models. There is a four-side jacket (kangaroo, cotton velvet, silk and karakul) among the new articles of the company.

     The collection of Fur House Zetta is intended for a spoilt beauty. It includes most expensive furs: lynx, "blackglama", chinchilla, white-snow swakara in combination with embroidery and golden tassels.

    A folklore style has been presented with flax and fur clothing ensembles by Ludmila Pershina from the Fashion House "Kalinka-Morozov", as well as with the ethnographic collection, called "Women of Tundra", by Natasha Glazkova. The latter has demonstrated a theatrical performance about the exotic life of the Northern peoples; a jurt, shaman's tambourine, ritual dancing and accessories, made of deer skin and antlers, have been also shown.

    One cannot but note several successful tandems: a popular designer - a company, producing fur accessories. The Moscow firm "FurLand" has created fur articles for Ludmila Mezentseva. The headwears,  made of blue fox fur by "MKS" (Saint-Petersburg), has become an organic part of the bright clothing ensembles, made in the Russian Style by Vyacheslav Zaitsev.

      From the very beginning Russian Fashion Week (RFW) has been organized in accordance with international standards and orientated, first of all, on the Western market of a fashion industry. Now the pavilions of the Week are dislocated on the Red Square, the place of great worship for every
foreigner; a show-room is placed  in the State Department Store(GUM), the main trading site of the country. Among the partners of the Week one can see such famous international companies as Motorola, Pantene-ProV, Moet & Chandon, Evian. Printing materials on RFW activities are being issued by such popular publishing houses, as Time Out and In Style; catwalks are broadcasted by Fashion TV. The fashion-makers, well known all over the world, demonstrate their collections on RFW podia; this year Zandra Rhodes, Jenny Packham and Julien Macdonald, the legendary English were the guests of the Week.

    RFW attracts the attention of the international organizations, realizing the advancement of furs into the modern style. This year Dmitriy Loginov (ARSENICUM), a designer from Krasnoyarsk, who makes costumes for Moscow bohemians and show-business stars, has become "the chosen" the Danish fur auction (KOPENHAGEN FUR), providing furs of mink, fox and swakara for his collection. The North American Fur Auction (NAFA) has become the partner of the FurLand company show.

Photogallery: Fashion Week in Moscow, autumn-winter 2006-2007

Photogallery: Russian Fashion Week (RFW), autumn-winter 2006-2007