Hello! And welcome to the first edition of The Belma Show!, KOIBIRD’s new podcast-style chat show that will serve up fashion interviews and 80s revival in equal measure. Whilst our founder Belma Gaudio would love to host you all as a live audience, current COVID restrictions calls for yet another ZOOM meeting. But don’t worry, we won’t leave you lingering in our waiting room. Instead we’ll record these interviews live and broadcast them on The Birdword for you all to watch in your own time. No expiration date, no subscription needed… (applause now).

In keeping with our AW20 edit, The Eastern Bloc, in our first episode we welcome Sofia Tchkonia, the one-woman force behind Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi. Founded in 2015, Tchkonia has brought the world’s leading buyers, stylists and journalists to the Georgian capital to scout out the next Demna Gvaslia or David Koma. When she’s not not organising fashion week, Tchkonia’s schedule isn’t exactly empty. She also runs the BeNext Foundation, an art and fashion foundation that helped discover George Keburia.

One of the Business of Fashion’s BoF 500, Tchkonia could be best described as a Georgian Fairy Godmother for creatives, although she doesn’t think so. Listen to her talk all-things fashion and Tbilisi now.