Abbie Fentress Swanson
Follow her on Twitter @dearabbie.
'Princess of Uzbeks' Gulnara Karimova has NY Fashion Week Debut
Friday, September 10, 2010
Ninety eight designers are presenting their collections at Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week. Many of them are celebrities, but only one is the daughter of a president. Gulnara Karimova, 38, whose father, Islam Karimov, rules Uzbekistan, had her New York Fashion Week debut on Friday.
Karimova's collection uses vintage Uzbek-inspired veils, sashes and ikat fabrics, but she is also influenced by the West.
"It is Western style because not too many people in our country would wear these clothes," Karimova told me after the show. In three-inch heels, she is heads above everyone around her. "But at the same time, we'll bring houses like Oscar de la Renta, Sonia Rykiel, Inès de la Fressange...to Uzbekistan."
It's surprising that Karimova has chosen fashion over, say, political science, given that she holds a Ph.D. in the subject from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. She is also the Uzbek ambassador to Spain.
However, it's clear that Karimova's got style. Today, her blonde hair is an '00s version of Farah Fawcett's do, and she has huge stylish gold, white, and green rings on that she's probably designed herself.
Karimova's Spring 2011 line is being shown on the catwalk today, and it appeals to Uzbek New Yorker expats, like Tavriz Aronova.
"We are living around twenty years in New York...in America...but for us, [it's] very important to know how our culture, how our tradition is keeping up in our motherland," Aronova says.
Comments [7]
ajoyib ko'rgazma! go'zal va bejirim liboslar................! BRAVO______
f.u!! she has something to show whole world!!!
her work is great!!!!
well, i have read all above comments with some i agree but with the most i don't...
I don't understand those who are negatively commenting on her.., well i gotta tell ya this PLEASE you try to do smthg unique before putting your harsh, ruthless and inconsiderate judgment(s)... PEOPLE its time to grove up, PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE STOP abhorrence, odium and revulsion, instead be proud that we have someone (it doesn't matter who) who tries to disseminate and publicize the beauty of our fashion culture and make it well known among the others... Thank You and God Bless You All!!!
Gulnara, an astute rising dictatress/fashion nazi, who, The Asia Times reported “practically owns the country” has learned well from her father about the power of contradiction, and constructed a fashion line of “multicolored, almost hippie-inspired looks for both men and women.”
Could there be a better business model than utilizing slave labor (probably), and torture (definitely) to sell rich Americans clothing designed to capitalize on our nostalgia for the dated ideals of ‘peace and love’…?
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/09/dictators-daughter-shows-at-fashion-week/
wait, wasn't there an arrest warrant on her for taking off with kids and flipping off ex-husband of hers?
Guli had a good performance.... Justin from uk just has jealousy problems, hahaha)) :)
Karimova, I think you will be better off working for Papa......fashion designing is clearly not your forte.
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