Bangladesh Fashion Week London 2016 - Bibi Russell

Bibi Russell is a Bangladeshi based fashion designer, who following her gradua- tion in 1975 from the London College of Fashion, worked as an international model for the likes of magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar and for fashion labels such as Yves Saint Laurent, Kenzo, Lark Lagerfeld and be- came the face of Giorgio Armani. Having worked as a model for over 20 years she returned to Bangladesh in 1994, Bibi opened Bibi Productions, a fashion house, fusing indigenous Bengali cultural elements into her line. As of 2004, her company employed 35,000 weavers in rural Bangladesh. Bibi has won numerous awards over the years and international accolades over the years. She was rewarded Cross of Officer of the Order of Queen Isabella by the King of Spain. The prestigious Asiaweek magazine highlighted her as "One of the 20 people to watch in the Millennium". She was awarded the Honorary Fel- lowship of the London Institute in 1999. UNESCO awarded her the title Designer for Development in 1999. She also got the title of Artist for Peace by the UNESCO in 2001 and the Peace Prize by the United Nations Associations of Spain in 2004. Bibi has selected Magical Threads as her collection theme that she will be show- casing in London. She says: The reason why I have chosen Magical threads is that I want to show the magic, the glitter, creativity in the hands of the crafts people. To show how one thread can be intertwined with another to create outstanding designs, which can only be created by the crafts people. I want to show how this magic thread can sustain economical survival through its creativity. My work rep- resents how such outstanding creativity; design by these magic threads can uplift poverty with dignity. Facebook: www.facebook.com/bibiproductions