Here is a quick way to learn what Belarus is like in areas that shape our globalized world of entertainment, and namely fashion, art, music and sport. We offer you some brief texts and images about what we are in those areas to illustrate our aspirations for creativity, progress and great results.

Fashion
In Europe or elsewhere, those who like shopping may recall a few high-profile Belarusian brands, including ‘Milavitsa’ lingerie and coat-making ‘Elema’. However, Belarus has much more to offer in glamorous gear, with emerging fashion industry.

In 2009, Belarusian fashion week with an alluring title ‘Fashion Mill’ saw an unprecedented 170 collections from designers across the country. Over years, the Belarusian fashion week features not just a single nationwide gig but a long runway stretching across Europe, with regular performances in Berlin, Brussels, Prague, Stockholm, Vienna and other big cities.

These fashion shows are a genuine splash as Belarusian designers’ dresses are often bought straight by the viewers giving collections little chance to come back home. The big name in Belarusian fashion is Ivan Aiplatov who is a welcome brand to the Moscow Fashion Week and Moscow boutiques.

Other Belarusian designers are yet to blossom into big names but that is definitely a matter of time. A springboard for creativity and experiment, a newly Modern Fashion Centre set in the nation-largest Belarusian State University is now a good promoter of young Belarusian designers giving them shelter for professional development.

Art
Progress and innovation are the right words to describe how the modern world art is developing. Belarus is on this track. It is worth to notice that our country gave birth to an outstanding avant-garde artist of the 20th century Marc Chagall whose masterpieces Triumph of Music and Sources of Music are now an indispensable and priceless asset to Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Belarusian school of art is proud to include another internationally renowned avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich who won worldly acclaim for his Black Square.

In our time, modern Belarusian artists are arguably no less creative or progressive, with astonishing and eye-catching works, often provocative for classic-genre admirers.

Those who like contemporary art, should know that Belarus plays host to staggering modern art exhibitions, including Ctrl+Art to showcase how art may integrate computer technologies, and Belarusian Biennale, a nation-wide analog to a world-famous modern art exhibition.

Music
Our modern music industry is a combination of emerging and full-grown pop, rock and experimental folklore bands and singers. Like anywhere else, Belarus takes a great portion of popular modern world music, with dozens of big pop and rock concerts by world celebrities, including Enrique Iglesias, Sarah Connor, a-ha, AC/DC, Alice Cooper and many more.

Our strides in modern music are noticeable at the European level, with two fantastic wins delivered by our child singers Ksenia Sitnik and Alexey Zhyhalkovich at the Junior Eurovision in 2005 and 2007 respectively.

There is one big music and not-only-music event that Belarus hosts 18 years in a row and that continues to be our visiting card – the international festival of arts Slavonic Bazaar, a tremendously vibrant celebration of culture and music, bringing together performers from Slavonic countries and every single part of the globe.

At different points in time, the world-famous stars made an appearance on the Slavonic Bazaar stage. The likes of Patricia Kaas, Robertino Loretti, CC Catch, Russian, Central and Eastern European musicians and singers joined Belarusians in celebrating the art of music. Click here to watch video about the Slavonic Bazaar international festival.

Sport
Belarus is a true sport nation. We have an excellent record at Olympics, with 19 medals at the latest 2008 Beijing Olympic Games listing Belarus 16 in the total medals chart.

Belarus is increasingly noticeable at the global and Europe competitions, so far giving 280 world and European champions in a wide range of sport disciplines.