"From March 12 to 17 Moscow saw the Fall/Winter 2017-2018 season of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. As part of the major Fashion Week in Eastern Europe more than 50 designers from Russia, Italy, Georgia, Kazakhstan and other countries presented their collections on the runways of the Manege Central Exhibition Hall. The season also featured several debuts of young designers, among them were awardees of the Russian Fashion Council's grants."

From March 12 to 17 Moscow saw the Fall/Winter 2017-2018 season of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. As part of the major Fashion Week in Eastern Europe more than 50 designers from Russia, Italy, Georgia, Kazakhstan and other countries presented their collections on the runways of the Manege Central Exhibition Hall. The season also featured several debuts of young designers, among them were awardees of the Russian Fashion Council's grants.

This season MBFWRussia has brought together a number of representatives of international media outlets, such as Vogue USA, Vogue UK, The Huffington Post, Forbes USA, The Issue Magazine, Fashionista, Fucking Young, Dazed, Observer, BuzzFeed and many others.

The main business event of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia deserves special attention. The two-day Fashion Futurum International Conference was held with the support from the Russian Fashion Council, Moscow's Department of Culture, Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russian Federation, Agency for Strategic Initiatives and Skolkovo Foundation. The program of the event included panel discussions, public talks, workshops and presentations of startup projects in several zones of the Manege Central Exhibition Hall. More than 30 global fashion industry experts from 9 countries gathered in Moscow's downtown to discuss modern trends and the current challenges the industry is facing. The main topic of the conference was the destruction of fashion industry stereotypes, its transformation under the influence of the scientific and technological revolution.

Karim Rashid (Designer, USA), Pascal Morand (Executive President, French Federation of the Haute Couture and Pret-a-porter, France), Carlos Espinosa de Los Monteros (High Government Commissioner for the Spain Brand, Spain), Michael Burke (Head of Industry, Fashion, Sports & Toys, Google, USA), Scott Emmons (Head of the Innovation Lab, Neiman Marcus, USA), Danilo Venturi (Dean, Polimoda, Italy), Covadonga O’Shea (Founder, ISEM Fashion Business School, author of the bestselling Zara Phenomenon, Spain) and many other experts participated as speakers and mentors of the conference.

For the first time Fashion Futurum featured a fashion industry and retail Innovation Show. The Russian Fashion Council and Skolkovo Foundation choose 30 projects for the central display of the Manege Central Exhibition Hall. Among the most interesting startups are Style Counsel, ShareCloth.con, Cloudburst, 3D Footwear Brutally, Posh, SC-TEK, Bundlesapp, Cardberry, Try. Fit, Preloved.

"Despite the fact that fashion technologies in Russia are only at the development stage there are no industrial standards in this area, so Russian companies have an opportunity get their share of this market," Alexander Shumsky, President of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia and Russian Fashion Council, said.

On March 17, 2017 a closed runway show by Firdaws was staged separately, at the Petroff Palace. Rippling floor-length dresses decorated with beads and embroidery, slim fit tops and soft pastel palette were characteristic of the Firdaws runway show. Refined silhouettes and silk kerchiefs decorated with lacework highlighted the chastity and kingliness of the images presented. Many Russian and international guests attended the show, among them were Alla Verber (Mercury), Vyacheslav Zaitsev (Designer), Anastasia Stotskaya (Singer), Sati Kazanova (Singer), Irina Tchaikovskaya (society columnist), Yulia Baranovskaya (TV host), Anna Khilkevich (Actress), Maria Lisowska (Fashion TV), Giulia Pirovano (Instituto Marangoni), Princess Beatrice D’Orleans (President of the Spanish Luxury Association, Ambassador of Dior), Pascal Morand (Executive President, French Federation of the Haute Couture and Pret-a-porter), Sylvie Ebel (L’Institut Francais de la Mode), Ahmed Abdulrahman Al Saati (Bahrain's Ambassador to Russia) and Jae Suk Kim (Illustrator).

Some 60,000 guests, more than 30,000 photos on Instagram with #MBFWRussia, live streaming of all fashion shows on dozens of websites and social networks pages, sketches by fashion illustrators, with each season we only improve our performance.

Major photo agency, Getty Images is the international partner of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia. Photos and videos from the Fashion Week will be available for download to 60,000 media outlets across the globe.