Date: 20 Oct. 2012 – 20 Nov. 2012

Museum: Museum of Georgia

On 20 October a unique exhibition of British fashion designers "Reconstruction: cultural heritage and the making of contemporary fashion" opens at the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi. The exhibition is organised by the British Council and is supported by the Georgian National Museum.

This exhibition celebrates the work of the work of seven of the UK's leading fashion designers - Hussein Chalayan, Peter Jensen, Sophia Kokosalaki, Paul Smith, Marios Schwab, Vivienne Westwood and Osman Yousefzada, who skillfully distil elements of their past - either personal moments or a collective cultural heritage - to create clothes with narrative.

This wonderful initiative could not have happened without really special devotion and interest of Mr. David Lordkipanidze who initiated to exhibit the pieces of contemporary fashion in the space of the most valuable and important museum. This initiative was highly appreciated by the wonderful staff of the museum.

It is really interesting to observe that designers draw on personal reference points which are as diverse as religion, vernacular architecture, indigenous craft, cultural heritage and new technology; and as abstract as migration, feelings of isolation, dislocation and fear.

Like the silks, spices, dyes, muslins and printed cottons that arrived in Britain along the silk road and which conjured up images of the countries from which they arrived, the work in this exhibition is a snap-shot of the traditions and cultures of some of the UK's leading fashion designers.

Our British Council Colleague Kendall Martin-Robbins specially arrived to support the exhibition. She will also be involved in the educational activities becoming an integral part of the exhibition.