І. GLOCALIZATION OF BULGARIAN FASHION IN 2005

What is "glocalization" of the Bulgarian fashion in 2005? Are we now closer to the world and European standards of dressing if we can talk about standards at all? Which are the symptoms in the development in our design of clothing - names, events, manifestations? What are our biggest successes abroad? What can we say about 2005
and about the Bulgarian fashion in general?...
The Bulgarian fashion is in its phase of glocalization,
interpreted as more flexible and "soft" variant of
globalization as it takes into consideration and infuses
in a positive manner both the global as well as the
local; the uniformity as well as the difference (in this
case our point of reference are the views of Roland
Robertson, Sociology Professor with the University
of Pittsburg, on glocalization, respectively timespace,
homogeneity and heterogeneity). What should we understand under "local", having in mind the Bulgarian fashion design? Not simply the mechanical use of the braids and the decorative cords from the national costumes in the modern design of the clothing. Similar attempts, though not
exactly mechanical have been recently made by Ani Avramova and Svetla Dimitrova, by Neli Koleva and Tseno Vutov and by Atanas Parushev. Such interpretations should be encouraged in the future as well. Yet, they do not mean an expression of our local culture as to seek them in combination and recombination with the values of globalization. In our context under local style we should understand the actual dimensions of the manner of dressing of the
Bulgarians. On the one hand, these dimensions are a synthesized product of the street fashion and the fashion of real life and, on the other hand, they are a
synthesized product of the clothing and accessories, resulting from the concepts of the native designers, made in Bulgaria, and third, of the traditional attitude
of the Bulgarians to fashion (inevitably aspired to greater talkativeness, slight kitsch and gaudiness). It is this last statement that provides an explanation for
the great interest of our compatriots in the Italian fashion, for which greater sensitivity, greater vitality and refinement are typical. However glocalization is
unthinkable without the elements of globalization. What is their expression and more specifically how are they reflected in the Bulgarian fashion? Most distinctly
they are implemented in the youth style of dressing and in the works of designers like Mariela Gemisheva, Kristina and Konstantin, Milka Alexandrova - Buchi, Eleonora Kirilova, Veronica Vapirova, and by the fashion houses MirO, Zebra,
Capasca, Battibaleno from Rila Style, Enita, Junona, Modus Art, Silven, Pretencii, etc. Though in a more classic variant, the world trends in haut couture are
successfully reflected in the works of Virginia Zdravkova, Evgenia Zhivkova, Jana Jekova, Albena Alexandrova, Maria Micheva, Fanni Papadopulu, Nathalie Genova, Djina Nik, Polya Milanova and fashion houses like Irida, Tani, Lucille, Romantika,
Mon Amour, Luxima, Scarlet, etc. In short, glocalization of the Bulgarian fashion in the last year is motivated by the more intelligent mix between national taste and global trends, by the bolder and parallel to that more professional interpretation of the eclectics as a manner and of the ethnic motifs as a source of inspiration. Because both the perception and mastering of the best from the global aesthetics and the global fashion taste as well as the assertion of the charm and the national attractiveness of a country where both traditions and clothing speak out for our strategic location on the Balkan peninsula, for original and hot culture, typical for the south parts of East Europe and for our Mediterranean values, really
matter.
Future success of the Bulgarian and in general of the Balkan fashion design is only possible under the domination of the "glocal" over the extremely limited "local" and the excessively broad "global". And this means modern and adequate interpretation of the national ethnos and the modern visual culture in harmony with the global trends in fashion.