Since 2001 FASHION.BG LTD. has consistently developed activities at the intersection of fashion design, visual arts, digital technologies, creative industries, and the promotion of Bulgarian cultural and creative content.
At the core of the organization’s activities is the understanding of fashion not only as an economic sector and industry, but also as a contemporary form of visual culture and artistic expression that combines design, fine arts, photography, music, stage performance, textiles, and digital technologies.
Over the years, FASHION.BG LTD. has created, organized, presented, and disseminated cultural content related to Bulgarian fashion design, visual culture, and the creative industries. The organization works both to promote existing works and original collections and to create new cultural products and opportunities for the professional development of Bulgarian artists and creative professionals.
Its activities encompass cultural media content, exhibitions and stage presentations, competitions and educational initiatives, creative workshops, fashion forums, interdisciplinary projects, international cultural exchange, and digital distribution.
In this way, FASHION.BG LTD. functions as a platform connecting creative professionals, audiences, cultural organizations, educational institutions, and representatives of the creative industries.
Fashion.bg – Cultural Media Platform and Digital Archive
The organization’s main project and long-term platform is Fashion.bg – the Bulgarian Fashion Portal, established in 2001.
https://www.fashion.bg – ISSN 2535-0102
For more than two decades, Fashion.bg has developed a specialized online environment for presenting and promoting Bulgarian fashion, fashion design, and related creative disciplines.
The platform publishes news, interviews, reports, original articles, and presentations of collections and creative projects, thereby providing public visibility for the work of Bulgarian designers, fashion houses, photographers, models, educational institutions, and organizations operating in the fields of culture and the creative industries. According to Google Analytics, the platform has attracted 591,000 visitors over the past 12 months.
The long-term nature of this activity is particularly significant. The content accumulated over the years constitutes a digital archive documenting the development of contemporary Bulgarian fashion, including designers, collections, events, trends, and creative processes.
Through Fashion.bg, the organization serves not only as an information channel but also as a platform for cultural mediation, presenting works and their creators to the public, increasing the visibility of Bulgaria’s creative sector, and ensuring the digital dissemination of cultural content.
Creation and Promotion of Cultural Products
A key characteristic of FASHION.BG LTD.’s activities is its transition from purely informational coverage to the active creation, production, and presentation of cultural products.
The organization develops practices that connect:
- Fashion design and fine arts;
- Traditional and digital drawing;
- Fine art photography and fashion;
- Textile design and digital printing;
- Stage performance and visual arts;
- Cultural heritage and contemporary design;
- Children’s and young people’s creativity and professional design;
- Bulgarian creative professionals and international audiences.
This interdisciplinary approach is characteristic of the organization’s work and creates opportunities for works and ideas originating in one artistic field to be transformed and presented through the means of another.
Children’s Drawing Competition “Draw Your Own Dress”
In 2018, Fashion.bg organized the children’s drawing competition “Draw Your Own Dress”, an initiative aimed at encouraging children’s artistic creativity and establishing a connection between fine arts and fashion design.
The competition was publicly announced on September 19, 2018, through Fashion.bg and gave children the opportunity to present their own vision of dress design through drawing.
The initiative fulfilled an important educational and cultural function by encouraging imagination, individual artistic expression, and interest in design, while placing children’s creativity within the real-world context of professional fashion.
Following the competition, the winners and distinguished participants were announced, and the drawings created became the basis for subsequent creative development.
A particularly important aspect of the project was the transformation of children’s artistic ideas into actual textile and fashion products. Some of the drawings were reproduced using sublimation printing technology on textiles and transformed into dress designs.
The project thus established a continuous creative process:
Children’s idea → Artistic drawing → Digital processing → Textile print → Fashion design → Stage presentation.
In 2020, dresses featuring children’s drawings were presented at the Fashion and Beauty Festival in Varna. In this way, the results of the competition received a public stage presentation and reached audiences beyond the original competition environment.
“Draw Your Own Dress” exemplifies FASHION.BG LTD.’s sustainable approach to cultural activities, from encouraging creative participation and generating artistic content to its professional realization and public presentation.
Fashion and Beauty Festival, Varna 2020
International Cultural Exchange and Ruse Fashion Week
Building naturally on its accumulated experience, FASHION.BG LTD. established Ruse Fashion Week, an international forum dedicated to fashion, design, and the visual arts.
Ruse Fashion Week serves as a platform for presenting original collections, creative projects, and cultural initiatives, while creating opportunities for interaction and exchange between Bulgarian and international creative professionals.
The forum’s concept approaches fashion as a contemporary artistic practice in which design interacts with visual arts, music, stage performance, textiles, and technology.
The forum also plays an important international role by facilitating cultural exchange, introducing Bulgarian creative professionals to international audiences, and establishing sustainable professional partnerships.
International Partnerships
Since 2022, FASHION.BG LTD. has maintained a partnership with Bursa Fashion Week, through which, with the organization’s support, a Bulgarian designer has been presented annually to Turkish and international audiences.
This partnership has gradually developed into a sustainable opportunity for the international mobility of Bulgarian creative professionals and the dissemination of Bulgarian cultural and creative products abroad.
Charlino Fashion House at Bursa Fashion Week 2022 (left), with the support of Fashion.bg, and Silvia Kabaivanova receiving an honorary plaque from Bursa Fashion Week (right).
In 2026, the organization expanded its international network through a partnership with Qingdao Fashion Week (China), where a Bulgarian designer will be presented with the support of FASHION.BG LTD. during the period September 19–22.
The development of these partnerships demonstrates a consistent commitment to building an international platform for cultural exchange and showcasing Bulgaria’s creative potential.
An additional resource supporting the organization’s international activities is Fashion.bg’s membership in the Bulgarian Fashion Association, which is a member of the European Fashion Alliance (https://www.europeanfashionalliance.org/), a European network bringing together professional and industry organizations from numerous European countries.
Through these professional networks, FASHION.BG LTD. is able to develop contacts with European and international organizations, artists, and creative professionals, and to explore new opportunities for cultural exchange, joint projects, and the international dissemination of Bulgarian cultural products.
Working with Children and Young Creative Talents
Working with children and young creative talents is an established and ongoing area of the organization’s activities.
Ruse Fashion Week includes creative workshops for children, where participants produce original drawings and visual concepts.
Some of these artworks were transformed into textile prints and recreated as dresses, which the participants kept as souvenirs.
This approach develops participants’ creative skills while demonstrating the practical process through which an initial artistic idea can be professionally realized.
Initiatives involving children form part of the organization’s broader concept of connecting education, creativity, design, and contemporary technologies.
Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Design
An important aspect of FASHION.BG LTD.’s activities is the contemporary artistic interpretation and promotion of Bulgarian cultural heritage through fashion design, performing arts, and audiovisual technologies.
This approach was incorporated from the very beginning of Ruse Fashion Week, where the presentation of historical heritage was conceived not merely as a fashion show but as a comprehensive audiovisual performance, creating an atmosphere and narrative that connected the past with contemporary audiences.
The opening of the event was designed as a stage composition in which archival and historical footage projected onto a large video wall, stage props, costumes, and visual elements recreated the atmosphere of Ruse and urban life in the early 20th century. The use of an antique suitcase and distinctive visual elements complemented the stage narrative, creating the impression of traveling through time.
The video projection functioned not merely as a background but as an independent element of the artistic composition, introducing the audience to the historical context and establishing a visual connection between archival imagery and live stage performance.
Within this audiovisual setting, contemporary interpretations of historical garments preserved in the collection of the Regional Museum of History – Ruse were also presented. The museum artifacts served as a starting point for creating new artistic interpretations through fashion design.
One of the garments was a dress from the 1930s that had belonged to Nadezhda Hitova, daughter-in-law of the Bulgarian revolutionary Panayot Hitov. The dresses were created by designer Daniela Georgieva (Art Boutique DANA VITAN) specifically for the opening of Fashion Week.
Miniature replicas of museum exhibits from the collection of the Regional Museum of History – Ruse.
In this way, historical clothing was placed within a multilayered artistic context that brought together museum artifacts, archival photographs and video footage, stage props, contemporary fashion design, and live presentations before an audience.
Of particular importance was the audiovisual storytelling, through which historical images and the contemporary stage environment were transformed into a unified artistic experience. Rather than presenting cultural heritage solely as a static museum exhibit, it became part of a dynamic visual narrative, allowing audiences to experience it through different sensory and artistic means.
This working model demonstrates FASHION.BG LTD.’s commitment to using contemporary audiovisual technologies as tools for cultural communication. Archival images, video projections, scenography, props, costumes, and fashion design function together to create a new approach to presenting historical heritage to contemporary audiences.
The performance also laid the foundation for the future development of Ruse Fashion Week as an interdisciplinary cultural forum where fashion intersects with audiovisual art, stage performance, and cultural heritage.
This practice is directly related to the development of the current project, which builds upon the organization’s accumulated experience in creating audiovisual and stage formats for presenting Bulgarian cultural heritage.
By combining fashion, visual imagery, video, music, scenography, and live performance, cultural heritage can be presented not only as historical information but also as a contemporary artistic experience accessible to new and diverse audiences.
Digital Technologies, Textile Printing, and Visual Arts
Since 2017, FASHION.BG LTD. has developed practical expertise in digital illustration, artistic textile design, and digital textile printing.
The organization explores the possibilities offered by contemporary technologies for transforming visual artworks into textile and fashion products.
This practice enables collaboration among artists, illustrators, graphic designers, and fashion designers, creating opportunities for the development of interdisciplinary works.
Technology is used not only as a production tool but also as a means of artistic transformation and dissemination of visual content.
The experience accumulated in this field is directly related to the development of the current project, which envisages combining fashion design, visual arts, music, stage performance, and the interpretation of cultural heritage.
Main Areas of Cultural Activity
The activities of FASHION.BG LTD. can be summarized in the following main areas:
- Promotion of Bulgarian fashion design and visual culture;
- Creation and presentation of cultural products;
- Organization of cultural, creative, and fashion events;
- International cultural exchange and presentation of Bulgarian creative professionals;
- Working with children and young creative talents;
- Educational and creative workshops;
- Interpretation and promotion of cultural heritage through contemporary design;
- Development of interdisciplinary artistic practices;
- Digitization and online dissemination of cultural content;
- Digital illustration and visual arts;
- Textile design and artistic printing;
- Connecting fine arts, fashion, music, photography, and stage performance;
- Building a professional environment and networks for Bulgarian artists and designers.
History of Cultural Activities
2001
Establishment of Fashion.bg – the Bulgarian Fashion Portal, a specialized online platform dedicated to promoting Bulgarian fashion, fashion design, and the creative industries.
https://www.fashion.bg – ISSN 2535-0102
2001–2017
Continuous development of Fashion.bg as a specialized cultural and information platform. Publication and archiving of news, interviews, reports, original collections, and information about the activities of Bulgarian designers, manufacturers, educational institutions, and creative organizations.
Since 2017
Development of practices in digital illustration, artistic textile printing, and the transformation of visual artworks into textile and fashion products.
2018
Organization of the children’s drawing competition “Draw Your Own Dress”, aimed at encouraging children’s creativity and strengthening the connection between fine arts and fashion design.
2018–2020
Further development of the competition’s results through the transformation of children’s drawings into textile prints and fashion products.
2020
Presentation of dresses featuring children’s drawings at the Fashion and Beauty Festival in Varna, providing a public stage presentation of the results of the children’s creative initiative.
Since 2022
Development of an international partnership with Bursa Fashion Week, creating opportunities for the annual presentation of Bulgarian designers to Turkish and international audiences.
2025
Organization of the first edition of Ruse Fashion Week, an international forum for fashion, design, and visual arts, featuring original fashion presentations, creative initiatives, and activities involving children.
2026
Development of the second edition of Ruse Fashion Week, expansion of international partnerships, and inclusion of initiatives related to cultural heritage and the contemporary artistic interpretation of historical garments.
In July 2026, Silvia Kabaivanova presented best practices in sustainable fashion and examples from the development of Bulgarian fashion design during a lecture at Torino Fashion Week in Italy.
Silvia Kabaivanova presenting best practices in sustainable fashion and examples from the development of Bulgarian fashion design at Torino Fashion Week 2026.
In August 2026, FASHION.BG expanded its international network through a partnership with Qingdao Fashion Week (China).
Cultural and Social Contribution
The activities of FASHION.BG LTD. have made a consistent contribution to the development and promotion of contemporary Bulgarian visual culture.
Through the long-standing work of Fashion.bg, the organization has established a sustainable digital environment for presenting and archiving Bulgarian creative content.
Through competitions, creative workshops, and activities involving children, the organization creates opportunities for young people to engage in artistic and creative processes from an early age.
Through Ruse Fashion Week and its international partnerships, opportunities are created for public presentation, cultural exchange, and the international mobility of Bulgarian creative professionals.
Through projects related to cultural heritage, the organization seeks to develop a contemporary visual language for presenting and promoting historical and cultural heritage.
By using digital technologies, textile printing, and interdisciplinary artistic practices, FASHION.BG LTD. develops a model in which traditional artistic ideas and cultural imagery can be transformed into new contemporary cultural products.
the foundation for the creation and international dissemination of a new, original Bulgarian cultural product.