One built a media empire out of Instagram slides, the other delivers instinctive, unfiltered takes straight from the front row. Together, they reflect two sides of contemporary fashion commentary: data-driven observation versus sensorial immediacy. With Style Not Com – the nom de plume of its founder Beka Gvishiani – now a daily destination for the industry, and Lyas bringing a performative, front-facing energy to fashion criticism, the following conversation unpacks their differences – and their shared belief that fashion is finally becoming exciting again.

Marta Represa: What’s your relationship with fashion week these days? Is it important for you to be in the room?
Beka Gvishiani: That’s a very relevant question for me this season because, for the first time since starting Style Not Com in 2021, I skipped London and Milan entirely to go to Brazil for carnival. I did attend New York and Paris, and was reminded how important it is for me to be in the room. I want to feel the vibe, the music, the smell, the people… I wouldn’t feel right judging a Milan show without having been there.
Lyas: I also took a step back this season! For the first time, instead of doing everything, I’m just doing what I really want to do. I gave myself permission to slow down. I think that’s important, because I realize I get more excited about what’s to come when I allow myself some freedom in between shows. I can focus on three shows a day, not seven like I did before.
Beka: Totally! To me it was also about getting out of my comfort zone, which is doing as much as I can do. It actually felt liberating. All in all, I think I did 12 shows in New York and 15 in Paris.
Lyas: I did 40 shows in total. So intense but I just love it.

What was your most memorable moment of the season?
Lyas: The Valentino set! I thought it was so fresh. I was sitting third row, so I couldn’t really see the clothes, but the set design, the production, the Lana Del Rey soundtrack… It was such a rush. At the end of the show I was like, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever seen!’; then I looked at the clothes up close and I was like, ‘huh’. It was really about the spectacle.
Beka: Alessandro [Michele] really is all about creating feelings. Seeing that set reminded me why I like him so much. From a fashion perspective, I loved Duran [Lantink] so much. I rearranged my whole schedule that day to make sure I wouldn’t miss his show.
Lyas: The controversy around his show was so blown out of proportion. I don’t think people got the message. To me it felt elevated; Bureau Betak was on it… It really felt like a stepping stone for something bigger to come. Also Matières Fécales! I loved the contrast between the Versailles-like room and the clothes themselves.
Beka: The shoes!
Lyas: Yeah, the Louboutin collab – everything was so high quality. It was insane. I had just come from Givenchy and I kept thinking about the way young designers with no means are outshining huge brands. It really says a lot about the current state of the industry. Think of what we could have if we weren’t playing it safe for fear of losing sales.
Beka: It feels like we’ve been waiting so long for some excitement! I keep saying this year is going to be the new 1997, you know, when all the big things happened – from Marc Jacobs going to Vuitton, to Galliano, McQueen, and Tom Ford being at the helm of heritage brands [Dior, Givenchy and Gucci respectively]. There’s that kind of vibe in the air.

You sound pretty optimistic.
Beka: I am!
Lyas: Me too! Because we’ve seen such a lack of creativity for so long, and we’re finally opening up the room to some. We might yet see the fruits of that.

How do you approach commentary and criticism to stay relevant?
Lyas: I’m lucky to have built a platform around being honest, and I’m lucky to still be allowed to be honest. I mean, curated honesty, but still, when I have something to say, I’ll say it. I wouldn’t call myself a journalist or a critic; I’d say I talk about fashion, which gives me the freedom to diversify my content and show fashion in any way I want.
Beka: Around the time I started my page, I was re-reading all these vintage magazines from my collection, and it made me realize I was longing for that level of excitement in fashion again. That has always been my drive: creating exciting fashion news for people to read. Of course, I was only doing it for around 200 friends and insiders; but then Loïc Prigent followed me.
Lyas: Loïc was also the first to spot me. He just gets it.
Beka: Things changed then. I started going to the shows and putting the accent on the things no one talks about: the number of models, guests, kilograms of sand used on a set… Then I looked for quotes, and things started really taking off. When it crossed the 50,000 followers line I realized I was no longer in the fashion bubble.
Lyas: How did the content change at that point?
Beka: I started doing more fact-checking and let go of some niche, hyperlocal content. Like you, I don’t call myself a journalist or critic, that’s the job of Tim Blanks and Cathy Horyn. What I do is report on whatever is exciting in a news format, because I want to focus on the actual fashion and filter out all the circus and hysteria around it. I get so tired from that; I feel like a need to retreat for a while after every fashion month.
Lyas: You know what? I get recharged! Those fashion-week interactions with people make me recharge.
Beka: For me it depends on the context, who I’m with…
Lyas: It is important to protect your peace. These days I simply don’t stay wherever I feel like I’m not welcome, those events where I’m just invited because they kind of have to have me.
Beka: And then they don’t talk to you!
Lyas: Exactly! So now I just leave!
Beka: I’ve started doing the same.

Beka, would you describe yourself as an introvert and Lyas as an extrovert?
Beka: We always talk about!
Lyas: We had an argument about it!
Beka: I still don’t know how to answer.
Lyas: I’m an extrovert.
Beka: This blue cap was created by introvert Beka, as a kind of ice-breaker so people would come and talk to me. Once the conversation gets going, the extrovert Beka comes out. But I can never take that first step myself. I like to observe from the sidelines.
Lyas: I just love to go talk to people. Anna Wintour? I’ll just go up to her and ask her for a selfie. Although she never says yes!

How do you deal with the public aspect of your job?
Lyas: Personally I love it; I thrive on it. Because I see life as a performance, so having an audience watching feels natural. I perform. And my face appears quite frequently in my content, so it’s obvious I want the attention. It would be ridiculous to pretend otherwise.
Beka: For me it’s the opposite because I don’t show my face on my page, and I never like any of my photos. I’ve always been a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, from the days when I was working in fashion in Georgia. And I like that. I don’t feel comfortable whenever there’s too much attention on me.
Lyas: Doesn’t the attention build up your ego?
Beka: Yes and no. Sometimes people make you feel more important than you feel yourself, but it’s only because they want to make use of it, and of you.

What are the pros and the cons of working solo?
Lyas: Not so long ago I started working for a publication and had to stop because it was muzzling me. I didn’t have the freedom I have on my own. The most important thing for me is to keep my voice, and I’ll do anything to preserve that. If that means I can’t work with a big publication, that’s OK. I value my freedom more than anything.
Beka: People call me a one-man show, because I like to do everything myself. I’m a control freak; I like to struggle, to stress myself. But the thing is, I worked with teams before, managing up to 70 people, and I realized that’s a surefire way to lose all your creativity and just become a manager. Now I have a manager and my editorial assistant, who helps me with research, fact-checking and editing, but I won’t ever be able to have more than two or three people with me without losing my creativity.

How do you keep your content unfiltered with brands now approaching you?
Lyas: Whenever I sign a contract, there’s a clause that states I get creative freedom and one round of feedback, no more. And you can’t force me to say something nice. If you’re hiring me to do something, I’m gonna do what I do.
Beka: My contract states that I work kind of like a magazine, with brands paying to place ads. But I make it very clear from the get-go: content is going to be completely separate from the show. And I never guarantee coverage, even if people think I do because I made 12 posts about Saint Laurent.
Lyas: I would make 20 posts about Saint Laurent.
Beka: By the way, let’s talk about Dries. Do you have a feeling that it got lost among the multitude of shows? No one talked about it.
Lyas: It got instantly forgotten.
Beka: But I keep thinking about it.
Lyas: Me too! Maybe we didn’t do our job right, because Dries was, along with Duran and Matières Fécales, my favourite.
Beka: I couldn’t do my top three without Saint Laurent though.
Lyas: I mean, Saint Laurent is ground level. The low-waist gowns with the leather jackets? Incredible.
Beka: And let’s talk about Balenciaga. I have so many mixed emotions because part of me loved that Puma-Balenciaga contrast. You know, the tracksuit and then the evening dress. But then there was the speeding. The show lasted a little over six minutes. I was sitting at a corner and whenever a model passed by I had two or three seconds tops to catch a glimpse of them. Actually, at the beginning I thought it was a retrospective show, because of the first five looks with the kind of hourglass shape. It felt reminiscent of Demna’s first collection for the brand. What did you think?
Lyas: I did a review about it and people were mad at me, because I thought it was genius to open with all those tracksuits. I thought it was a reflection of what the brand has become – nothing. Looks giving nothing, just basic clothing. Then the red gown came out and I thought: ‘Oh, well, it’s back to business as usual, it wasn’t so genius after all.’
Beka: I immediately did a review on the show and people wrote to me saying it felt really flat and that was a reflection of the show. Still, Demna is the most important designer of the past decade, along with Alessandro Michele and Jonathan Anderson.
Lyas: I didn’t get to go to the Loewe presentation? How was it?
Beka: It was the most Jonathan art exhibition ever. Truly meaningful.

What did you make of Sarah Burton’s debut at Givenchy?
Beka: I can tell you that my female friends who are able to afford these clothes all want to wear the whole collection. It’s funny how it was such a divisive show, with radical emotions from both sides. I think there are ways to develop it and Sarah Burton can undoubtedly cut a beautiful dress. The real test for me is going to be her menswear, because she doesn’t have as much experience in that department. But I do have friends in retail who said they ordered most of the collection.
Lyas: I’ve got to say, Beka… You’re really well media trained. I was at the show, and when I saw that first look with the logo coming out…
Beka: That first look was bad.
Lyas: You know what? I kind of thought it was genius, going back to 2016, bringing back logomania.
Beka: No, I understand the thought behind it; approaching Matthew [Williams], Riccardo [Tisci] and Hubert de Givenchy in one single look.
Lyas: That’s true! It felt tacky to open the collection that way, but a clever kind of tacky. The rest of the collection was interesting, the palette tasteful… But I don’t think it’s going to be a collection I will keep thinking about.

What about Haider Ackermann for Tom Ford?
Beka: The expression everyone used, including me, was ‘very seductive’. Tom Ford kissing him on the lips was a reflection of what everyone wanted to do after the show.
Lyas: Sex still sells!

Did you go to Vaquera?
Lyas: I loved it, and I thought it was their most accomplished collection ever. It was also the first time they worked with Michel Gaubert, who did this soundtrack composed exclusively of acapella versions of songs like ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ and ‘Gypsy’. You could only hear the vocals and the click click of the models’ shoes… Just the coolest. So New York.
Beka: Not saying this about Vaquera, but Michel saves shows with his music.

Is Paris still the best city to showcase emerging brands?
Lyas: Yeah, but they only have one shot. They have to get it right the first time, otherwise no one will ever come back next time.
Beka: Showcasing emerging talent used to be London’s role. And people undervalue London Fashion Week saying it’s only about Burberry, but it’s not! I think the British Fashion Council is under new leadership, and one of the things they should do is bring back the excitement of new brands. If you are an emerging brand, where better to show in London, where there is so much time!

Do you think runway trends are still relevant today?
Lyas: Not to me. I kind of hate trends.
Beka: Trends? Nooooo! Because every trend is so short-lived now. The trend of trending is gone.