Demna Gvasalia's Vetements label has catapulted Georgia onto the international stage, but the creative community nurtured in Tbilisi doesn't stop there.

But 30 years ago, Tbilisi, Georgia, was a city with little infrastructure, no electricity and war on the streets. Today, Tbilisi is a fast-growing city with a thriving creative and industrial scene.

Since the Mercedes Benz Tbilisi Fashion Week in 2015, Tbilisi has become the fashion capital of the country, and all the talk about the Georgian fashion scene has revolved around Demna Gvasalia's post-Soviet aesthetic.

The designer behind Vetements is rightly credited with bringing Georgia to the world's attention. "Because of Demna, now when you think of Georgia, you don't just think of a U.S. state!" Situationist creative director Irakli Rusadze said.

But two years after Georgia rose to prominence, Tbilisi's fashion scene is undergoing a transformation that is not just about its Soviet past or post-Soviet street style, but a new generation of designers looking to Georgia's more progressive, liberal future with a narrow sense of femininity.

A rebellious group of designers and creatives is emerging in Georgia's capital, using fashion as a medium to deliver a message of freedom in a country still torn between Eastern and Western ideologies.

Situationist, founded by designer Rusadze, Tbilisi's most successful fashion brand, organized the spring/summer 2019 exhibition at Bassiani nightclub in response to the forced closure and riots that occurred there earlier this year, when large numbers of protesters gathered. Expressing support for the marginalized LGBTQ+ community that Bassiani has always welcomed and opened its doors to. "It's important because it's a safe place for everyone." Rusadz explains his choice of venue.

Situationist's move also conveys another message. "We have chosen to include minorities in Georgia, including transgender and Nigerian people," explained assistant creative director Louis Chasserot. "It is difficult to find minorities in Georgia."

"They didn't want to be identified [for fear of public oppression] but we found people who were willing, some through agencies but mostly people we met in nightclubs, including one model we met last week at Halloween," he said.

Tbilisi's Chao Concept store, a retail and art gallery, is also pushing boundaries and promoting freedom.

Founded in 2016 by Georgian It girl Nini Nebieridze and Nina Botchorishvili, Chao doesn't just focus on fashion. "You know, thinking only about fashion is boring." Nebieridze says, "It's a shop about art, connecting people, music," adds Botchorishvili. Everything about the store is bold, from Carne Bollente's huge scarf with the word "orgasm" printed in bold letters to the most famous mural of Jesus on the wall of the shoe rack. These bold moves are not without controversy.

"It's like a kind of censorship," says Nebieridze. "When we opened our shop, we put up a Jesus mural, and our friends said it's too much, it's not funny, [in Georgia] we try to integrate into Europe, but we don't belong in Europe. With these unconventional behaviors, we hope to [broaden people's minds] and make people feel comfortable with these things."

"Gender equality is a very serious issue here," Botchorishvili added, and many Tbilisi designers have felt the same way and have established women's rights and sexuality through their work.

Tbilisi-born Lako Bukia, who has been designing since 2008 and has shown four times at London Fashion Week, deliberately distinguishes her work from the post-Soviet street fashion often associated with Georgia.

Her aesthetic concept is more feminine, with girly prints, silks and fitted cuts.

"The female objects I design are powerful," she explains of the burgeoning assertiveness of women.

In an era when young people are fighting for equal rights, they often face harsh criticism and repression from older generations who still believe in traditional values, and fashion is a powerful medium for expressing ideas and inspiring people.

"This movement is happening," Bukia said, referring to the protest outside the Bassiani nightclub. "Everyone is out, fighting for democracy, realizing that they can live the life they want and no one has the right to stop it, not their parents, not religion, not any other forces."

Georgia has been invaded, occupied and ravaged by war for a long time in its history, and its people are used to fighting for their rights. "The country is screaming, 'Hey! Here we are! Ingorokva, who has made bold use of leather and androgynous cuts for women's wear during her 15-year career, says she has seen many changes.

"Because Georgia is small, we are always trampled and bullied, but we are a country that knows how to resist. These forces of resistance are my inspiration, but femininity is also very important in my work, because Georgian women are very strong, and my work is a support for women's rights and women's power."

In addition to empowering women through fashion, Dalood designer Maka Kvitsiani's latest collection is inspired by the Me Too wave and supports women in action, with her team comprised entirely of women.

"If they need time off and can't find someone to look after their children, they can stay at home or bring them to the office," said Maka Kvitsiani, who has three children of her own. This outreach is a significant step for Georgia, a country that is focused on providing opportunities for women and eliminating gender inequality.

But even with all this action, some of the initiatives that are popular in the Western world have not been taken seriously. Many designers don't put much emphasis on sustainability and diversity.

Ingorokva is a sustainability designer. "I think the environment is important. I use a lot of leather materials, but from next season we will use bio-leather, but it will be a big obstacle for young designers because everything has to be imported."

Situationist's design team faced the same problem. "We kept all production processes in Georgia, but some fabrics had to be imported," says Chasserot. As for diversity, the lack of diversity at Tbilisi Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was evident, even in Situationist's best efforts.

As the "Big Four" fashion weeks have come under scrutiny for their lack of representation in fast fashion, perhaps the emerging fashion capital Tbilisi's future goal is to plan better environmental policies in the fashion industry, and to more actively include marginalized communities to more fully represent diverse races and sexual consciousness.