Museums & Fashion: Heritage as Creative Inspiration

11:50 — 13:20 (May 23)
Moscow Museum
Cinema

#heritage_preservation
#museum_product

Panel Discussion

The dialogue between museums and fashion in Russian culture revolves around preserving, interpreting, and transmitting cultural codes through clothing and design. Museums play a pivotal role in conveying fashion’s cultural heritage, serving as a bridge between the past and present.
Contemporary designers uncover new meanings within museum collections, merging historical and cultural heritage with current fashion trends. Museums become platforms for dialogue between tradition and innovation, enabling fashion to not merely borrow imagery but to reinterpret it with depth and intentionality. In return, fashion reinvigorates museums' connections to the present by weaving Russian cultural codes into everyday garments — garments that may themselves one day become part of history.
The core challenge lies in the disconnect between tradition, museums, and the fashion industry. The solution? Building cultural bridges.

• How can museum-designer collaborations and joint projects narrow the gap between tradition and modernity in fashion?
• What frameworks facilitate a productive dialogue between museums, designers, and brands for knowledge exchange?
• Could establishing a Russian Fashion Museum systematically bridge heritage and its reinterpretation through structured costume history studies?
• How to balance commercialization with authenticity?
• What role can museums play in supporting emerging designers and brands?

Moderator:
Alexey Egorov, Rector, Moscow Art and Industry Institute

Speakers:
Aysel Guseinova, Chairperson, Azerbaijan Fashion Designers Association
Alexandra Gapanovich, Designer, Founder of the brand Gapanovich
Galina Kareva, Head of Department, Ivanovo Cotton Chintz Museum at Burylin State Museum of History and Local Lore, Ivanovo
Olga Mikhaylovskaya, Fashion Journalist, Fashion Historian, Author of the Telegram channel frontfashion
Elena Titova, Director, Russian National Museum of Decorative Arts
Maria Yanes, Head of the Centre for Traditional Crafts, Russian Ethnographic Museum