IVAN ASEN 22 – Conceptual Designers’ Platform and the Foundation to Present and Support Contemporary Designers, founded by fashion designer Neli Miteva, has established itself in Sofia, Bulgaria, as an original, one-of-a-kind joint initiative for creating, developing, and presenting designer concepts. Working together, designers of the new, professionally educated generation form a network and establish a recognizable environment, visible and of interest to a curious audience. IVAN ASEN 22 strives to be a link between the designers’ education and their professional realization, as well as to help them overcome the difficulties designers encounter in the limited market for the works of individual designers, the lack of financing, insufficient knowledge in the sphere of management and fashion marketing, etc.

Since 2015, IVAN ASEN 22 has worked with a select circle of designers on conceptual artistic projects, approaching contemporary fashion design in the context of contemporary art. The designs/sculptures are developed on a curatorial concept, with a theme touching on important social trends, and are presented in a museum space in the format of thematical spatial installations, complemented by a fashion film. Contemporary artists from the spheres of cinematography, photography, and spatial design are involved in these large-scale interdisciplinary projects, along with actors, directors, and musicians. 

This book follows the process in the search for personal identity in Bulgarian fashion design through the three conceptual exhibition projects XXSOFIA, 1.5 KM OF…, and STATIONS.

The garment is seen as a specific connection of the individual with its environment ("XXSOFIA"), as a visual commentary on the concept of "distance", its duration, length or transience ("1.5 km of ..."), or as an interpretation of the global trend multilocalism through the study of our identity created through the experience collected by living in different parts of the world ("STATIONS"). 

Conceptual fashion as an expression of personal ideas – visual commentaries on the themes that excite us. Fashion sculptures that stimulate the intellect; clothing made from fabric, but approaching the means and meaning of architecture. Stable forms, but with the potential for a movement built into them. Moveable immobilities.

Materials with a message.

Form as an experiment.

The focus is on conceptual fashion:

Fashion with a position, social content, and meaning.

The author of the book is Neli Miteva, creator, artistic director of "Ivan Asen 22" conceptual designers´ platform, and curator of the conceptual fashion projects. Neli has graduated in fashion design in Germany. She works as a designer of her own and joint collections, as well as creator of costumes for theater and dance performances. She also teaches and writes about fashion. Her latest significant award is the INSPIRATIONAL-VISIONARY AWARD for her achievements in the development of the Southeast European design scene by the Center for Creative Economics of Southeast Europe in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The layout of the book is a work of Albena Limoni, who graduated in illustration at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, after which he specialized in Gent, Belgium. Albena is one of the most active illustrators and designers of printed materials in our country, with an interest in the field of typography. She created book covers for a number of publishers, and in 2019 her illustrations for the book "Mythical Songs. Bulgarian Folk Creativity" of Erove Publishing participated in the Illustration Biennial in Bratislava. In 2019, together with the graphic designer and calligrapher Kostadin Kokalanov, she created her own design studio "Frank", working in the field of paper, illustration, and creation of graphic identity.