A Feel for Fashion: Beka Gvishiani

Beka Gvishiani is the voice and vision behind Style Not Com, an Instagram feed posting breaking news, daily observations and witty insights with the directness of an omniscient fashion authority. Between the name and logo homage Style.com and the unwavering use of a solid blue background inspired by the signature hue of Colette, the concept is bathed in nostalgia while delivering industry-wide intel. Before Gvishiani created the account in September 2021, he was the general manager of a Anouki, a Georgian fashion brand, and launched a creative agency, Ariel Bold, to amplify the visibility of local brands and talents. Based in Tbilisi, he is leveraging the phenomenal traction of @stylenotcom to develop forthcoming projects internationally and across different formats. In the meantime, this posts – and the way people interact with them – reveal the evolving nature of news sharing today.  

What creates an emotional response for you in fashion today?

I am still very much excited and feel emotional when I attend a great runway show and see a great collection with a model’s powerful walk and great music as a background. Even if there’s not a spectacular, mega set-up – just white walls and simple catwalk – if there are these three elements (collection, casting, music), it’s enough for my goosebumps.

Often we see several designers arriving at a similar idea during a season. How do you explain this creative intuition?

It’s not just a creative intuition, it’s everything around us that affects everyone’s views and opinions and gets laid in their minds. People get inspired by everything around them and around the world, be it politics, pop-culture, people in the streets, arts, social media, etc. Many of us see the same things and have the same references, which results in similar ideas that we call “trends” later. 

How do you feel about designers expressing or interpreting their worldviews in their collections? 

For some brands and designers, translating their worldviews in the collections works very well; it’s their way of expressing themselves. And with fashion always been reflection of the time, it should continue that way. We can’t “close” eyes on everything happening around us. 

How would you like to see fashion evolving this year?

To focus on quality and timeless values (not just in terms of clothes) that we actually saw here and there in 2022 from few brands, but also to give exciting talents a chance to develop their ideas, since I’m sure there’s lot to uncover and we just need to look around with wider eyes. 

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.