Tbilisi Fashion Week:
Annual event opens with vintage gown display

A special display of vintage dresses once owned and worn by the late co-founder of Georgia’s acclaimed Sukhishvilebi National Ballet has opened this year’s Tbilisi Fashion Week.

Fashion brands and industry insiders gathered yesterday in capital Tbilisi for the opening of the annual fashion event. 

Celebrating the life and legacy of Nino Ramishvili (1910-2000), the opening show presented Ramishvili's collection of evening gowns from famous designers including Chanel, Armani and Dior.

The special show featured 14 evening gowns designed for Ramishvili by the likes of Chanel, Armani and Dior. Photo from Sukhishvilebi.

At the fashion event hosted at Tbilisi City Assembly, the dresses were worn by dancers of Sukhishvilebi in a show titled Nino Ramishvili - Fashion and Era.

Illustrating European fashion trends of the 1950s and 60s, the 14 gowns were designed for Ramishvili and worn by the famous dancer for curtain calls and receptions when the company toured around the world.

Sukhishvilebi dancers wore the vintage dresses at the Tbilisi Fashion Week launch. Photo from Sukhishvilebi.

Ramishvili co-founded the dancing troupe along with Iliko Sukhishvili in 1945 as the first professional state dance company in Georgia.

Over the decades Sukhishvilebi was instrumental in showcasing Georgian national dance and performed international tours at famous theatres around the world including The Metropolitan Opera, Madison Square Garden and Teatro alla Scala.

The opening show of Tbilisi Fashion Week was dedicated entirely to displaying the dresses worn by Ramishvili in the 1950s and 60s. Photo from Sukhishvilebi.

The legacy of Ramishvili - a dancer and choreographer - was marked by the troupe in a 2014 performance named Ramishvilebi that brought together a number of dance productions in diverse styles.

See the show ‘Ramishvilebi’ in a photo report by Agenda.ge here.

Tbilisi Fashion Week co-founder Tako Chkheidze (C) photographed with Sukhishvilebi dancers. Photo from Natia Bakuradze.

The company recently celebrated its 70th anniversary by hosting concerts in the United States and Europe.

Next week, Sukhishvilebi dancers will step off the Tbilisi Fashion Week catwalk to their customary performance stage and embark on a tour of Switzerland.

On October 29 and 30 the troupe will dance in the country’s two largest cities Zurich and Geneva and perform an updated program of dances.