The Kyrgyz Chronicles - Ain't seen nothing till you seen a fashion show in Bishkek!

Thaz right! Bring on the glitz n glamor coz we gots a fashion show in Bishkek!

Ok so my only other experience with a fashion show has been in Pakistan. It was for lingerie and only open to the "ladiss" (except the hair stylist Tariq Amin, who apparently is either genderless or just really special!). I guess the aim of that show was mostly to scandalize, but it was actually a pretty cool event. The mullahs didn't find out... otherwise they'd have gate crashed I'm sure!

The goatee cutie

Here though, like the Kyrgyz wedding that I attended recently, everything is planned and prepared to the T, focused on entertainment. There were performances by some local musicians who are really quite famous apparently, because people were going crazy. This one dude with long hair and goatee was kinda cute and sang pretty well too. Apparently he's in this new film called "I love Bishkek" which is supposed to be a milestone in local cinema.

The designer, Dilbar

The show itself was introduced with this story about a flock of birds who were supposed to be gorgeous. The birds flew all around the world and when they went over China, one of them shed a feather there and China started blossoming (perhaps literally, with the Chinese cherry blossoms!). Each design and model represented one of those birds... shedding beauty and blossoming the world.

The Ballerina

I'm actually killing it, but it was really well done. They started by reading a poem and then sharing this tale. Again, this was all translated to me from Russian, so I'm sure a lot of the beauty was lost in translation unfortunately.

The performances started with a ballet. When the ballerina walked on stage, with the white clothes and the spotlight... it literally took my breath away. She was so regal and graceful!I couldn't get the whole thing, but here's part of the performance.

We also happened to have front row seats in the house, so it was a kickass perk too. The clothes were great - amazing fusion of Kyrgyz designs on western style dresses, mostly long and flowy.

But yea, overall, it was a pretty rad evening. I know like most capital cities, Bishkek is not necessarily symbolic of everything Kyrgyz, but it was really wonderful to see the juxtaposition of culture and trend in a majority Muslim country. It shows a social tolerance and ability to treat religion as a way of life, which was truly worth admiring.

If only we could learn from the country that lost the UN Security Council seat to Pakistan!