Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi presented Simon Machabeli’s exhibition “Liberté: Costumes in Exile” on May 10, 2026.
Simon Machabeli is a Georgian artist whose multidisciplinary practice brings together theatre, film, and fashion. Educated at the Apolon Kutateladze Tbilisi State Academy of Art, Edinburgh College of Art, and Central Saint Martins (MA Womenswear, 2008), he has developed a diverse career across these fields.
Rooted in Georgian culture and folklore, his recent work moved beyond seasonal fashion into highly personal, research-driven exhibitions defined by craftsmanship and meaning.
His exhibition “Liberté: Costumes in Exile” explored what happens when costume leaves the stage and acquires a new life. No longer tied to performance, the garments became autonomous objects — silent witnesses existing between fashion and art. Treated as displaced and suspended forms, they reflected a state in which performance had ended while meaning persisted, remaining as fragments of identity that questioned visibility, absence, and relevance.