"The Russian fashion market is not as developed as to be threatened by mergers. Most Russian fashion houses work on the principle of VIP client salons and these customers are highly likely to stay. That's why the crisis in fashion here is not as evident as abroad," Alexander Shumsky said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Shumsky added that even if clients "have lost their factories and yachts, VIP customers will not deny themselves the pleasure of buying beautiful items by talented Russian designers."
Meanwhile, a number of less known foreign brands "will start going bust, demand will slow which has already started to drop," Shumsky said, adding that the January sales would be an indicator of how serious the situation is.
"The crisis will affect world fashion weeks: the loss of advertising funds will begin. Designers are already finding it difficult to find sponsors this season and next year will be even harder," the RFW producer said.
Russian Fashion Week opened in Moscow on Tuesday and will run until November 4. Eastern Europe's most famous pret-a-porter week will host over 100 events, including 65 catwalk shows, business seminars and press conferences, and 20 fashion parties, as well as charitable events.
More than 60 designers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Spain and Italy, including Custo Barcelona, Alessandro de Benedetti and Toni Francesc, will be sharing the catwalk at the Congress Hall in Moscow's World Trade Center.
The event's organizers are promising that the spring-summer 2009 collections will shine through the "gloomy" outlook of the global financial crisis.
RIA Novosti is an official media sponsor for Russian Fashion Week.
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