Hayern Aysor’s correspondent sat down for an interview with Syrian-Armenian designer and director of Shadoyan Fashion Studio Kevork Shadoyan. The conversation was about the “Renaissance” collection of national costumes, which received the Best Foreign Collection Award at Estet Fashion Week in Moscow.

Hayern Aysor: Could you please tell us about the “Reniassance” national costumes collection? What does it represent?

Kevork Shadoyan: First of all, I must say that I wanted this event to be one of the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

The collection includes the duplicates of Armenian national costumes. When creating the costumes, I used my imagination and tried to make them look new, based on history and according to the region. I strictly maintained the colors, look and ornaments and tried to keep them looking like they used to as much as possible.

The collection includes 30 different national costumes for men, women and children.

The first exhibition was held in Artsakh on March 20. On April 18, the second exhibition was held during Estet Fashion Week, which was held with the participation of designers from various countries, as well as several cities of the Russian Federation.

To choose the models, I contacted Moscow’s modeling agencies and got satisfying results. Out of the 30 selected models, only one was Armenian. The rest were all Russian.

What was very important for me was that the Russian models were very excited and had a high sense of responsibility and knew that the event was dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. After the fashion show, they posted photos with those clothes and reflected on the Armenian Genocide. I take pride in the fact that I managed to let young foreigners know about the pain and sorrow of the Armenian people.

I must also mention that I had sewn clothes with the “Forget-me-not” symbol especially for the “Renaissance” collection. During the show, the audience was more interested in the clothes since they knew the symbol of the Forget-me-not. I even received offers, but I’ll never agree to sell them. That’s unacceptable for me.

Hayern Aysor: You received the Best Foreign Collection Award during Estet Fashion Week. Could you tell us more about that?

K. S.: It came as a surprise for me. When they announced my name, I was working with my models backstage and didn’t know why they were announcing my name. Only when they called me to the stage did I realize what was happening. I was participating as a guest at the exhibition. It didn’t even cross my mind that I would receive an award.

It was very nice to see that the jury received me so well. After the fashion show, everyone was applauding for a long time and wanted to take pictures. I was in an uncomfortable situation. Another fashion show began after mine ended, but the audience was still under the influence of my show.

Hayern Aysor: Gevorg, I’m aware of another interesting thing that happened during the fashion show. A Russian singer performed the Armenian song “Dle Yaman”. How did that happen?

K. S.: The singer is Tasha Turova, who is not only a singer, but a model as well. After one of the fashion shows held last year, she approached me and asked to participate in my fashion shows. Nothing happened after our short meeting.

When it was announced that I was going to be participating in the fashion show in Moscow, Tasha sent me an e-mail, telling me that she really wanted to work with me and reminded me about our initial agreement. She also wrote that she wanted to sing during the show and that she often does that.

Tasha has the features of a model, and I agreed to collaborate with her. I also suggested that she perform the Armenian song “Dle Yaman”.

There couldn’t be any foreign songs that day. There only had to be Armenian songs and music in Moscow. That was my precondition.

I sent her the music and the lyrics. Tasha sang very well at the show and charmed the audience, especially me. The song “Dle Yaman” was performed during the showing of the “Forget-me-not” dress and received warm rounds of applause.

There was another pleasant surprise in store for me in Moscow. World famous Russian opera singer Natalya Pavlova, who is based in Italy, was also attending the Estet Fashion Week event. The opera singer was also going to give a concert in Moscow. She saw my designer clothes at a brand name store, liked them a lot and wanted to wear the clothes that I had designed at the concert. That’s how we started working together.

Hayern Aysor: What is your source of inspiration when you create?

K. S. I’m always looking for something. I look around me. I even get inspired when I read books.

For instance, when I was getting ready for the “Renaissance” fashion show, visiting different regions of Armenia inspired me and gave me the strength to create. Costume expert Armine Stepanyan and I started conducting studies in cities and villages across Armenia, as well as Artsakh.

We visited Armavir, Talin, Gyumri, various villages of Artsakh and elsewhere. We met the old women of the villages, asked them about the morals and the national costumes of the village and more.

We also visited museums, factories and cultural unions. We spent a whole day at the Museum of Ethnography, the National Gallery of Armenia and the rug factory in Artsakh.

Hayern Aysor: Gevorg, will the people of Armenia have the chance to see the “Renaissance” collection? Will you grant them those beautiful moments?

K. S.: Of course. I would also like to inform you that the show in Yerevan will be held in collaboration with the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

When I met RA Minister of Diaspora Hranush Hakobyan during an event, I talked about my plans and told her that I planned on organizing an exhibition of national costumes in Armenia with the RA Ministry of Diaspora, and she immediately agreed to help me.

Recently, Hranush Hakobyan and I discussed issues related to our cooperation during a meeting at the Ministry of Diaspora. We decided to hold the fashion show in Yerevan on May 29. I have also had a meeting with President of the Center for Coordination of Syrian-Armenians’ Issues NGO Lena Haladjian.

I would also like to inform that there will also be exhibitions in the USA, Australia, Marseilles and Iran.

Interview by Gevorg Chichyan