The exhibition of British fashion designers, “Reconstruction: Cultural Heritage and the Making of Contemporary Fashion”, started its journey around Europe and Asia, from Kazakhstan’s cultural capital, Almaty, a month ago. Leaving a lasting impression on Kazakhstan’s fashion savvy public, the next stop for the exhibition is Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent. During the 4 weeks that the exhibition was up in the atrium of the Central State Museum of Kazakhstan, situated in the heart of the city, over 15,000 visitors had an opportunity to see first ever fashion exhibition of contemporary British designers and engage in wraparound activities.

Creative workshops, organised by the British Council, in collaboration with local and British fashion industry partners, played an important role in building strong links with professionals in the field.

Meeting British designer, Gerard Wilson, Peter Jensen’s creative and business partner, and learning about his account of the history of the Peter Jensen brand, the creation of collections and setting up in business in London, was enlightening to local designers.

A superb presentation on current and future macro trends and creative workshop delivered by Cher Potter, Fashion Trends Researcher from WGSN London (Worth Global Style Network), global leader in trend-analysis for fashion professionals, attracted a wide range of professionals, from established designers to fashion design teachers from arts colleges.  It was a very successful event (a capacity room full of the ‘right people’) that built a solid base of new contacts for British Council.

Lucie Muir, a well-established fashion journalist, contributing cutting-edge reports on fashion to the most authoritative fashion titles, such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Fashion Confidential, the Financial Times etc., engaged journalists, editors and arts promoters across the Media business, from national tabloids and glossy lifestyle magazines to online experimental arts portals.

In total 170 fashion professionals participated in talks and workshops.

“I learnt about WGSN, when I studied in Italy and understanding their important role for fashion professionals I started following their activity since then,” shares her excitement Aigerim Akenova, a young fashion designer, who is setting up her own label in Kazakhstan, “I could never imagine that I would be attending a WGSN workshop in Almaty! I am very grateful to the British Council for bringing the best of world fashion expertise to us!”