In the world of today, accessories play first fiddle in personal image- making. After abandoning the dictate of any uniform style, fashion is now set, first of all, to underline individuality. What is assuming the greatest importance in a suit is the texture, quality, and value of the fabric. Thus accessories have become the accent and even the point of assembly of a garment.
The powers that be have been always shown a passion, sometimes a mania, for original accessories. Elena Ceausescu and Imelda Marcos, wives of the Romanian and Philippine dictators, respectively, can serve as textbook examples. When the latter had to hastily flee the country that overthrew her husband, the insurgents, who broke into the presidential palace, found an untold number of vanity bags made of the skin of exotic animals and so many pairs of ladies’ footwear that these were enough to shoe almost a third of the Philippine capital’s female population. On the crest of the current interest in accessories, the famous American lady billionaire Gloria Vanderbilt (descendant of the tycoons immortalized long ago by Odesa satirists Ilf and Petrov in the person of Little Ella Shchukin, bete noir to Gloria Vanderbilt) has recently auctioned off her collection of “ladies’ items” at prices as high as those of precious jewelry. One of the most spectacular and expensive items is a handbag made by Sonia Rikiel specially for Gloria.
Ukraine also has some recognized masters of accessories of its own. The most authoritative of them, designer Tamara Mukhina, once made a collection together with Viktoria Hres, often made accessories for Sergei Byzov’s collections, and worked with Volodymyr Sarafanov. It is to Ms. Mukhina that Liudmyla Kuchma, Ukraine’s first lady, entrusted the creation of accessories for the presidential visit to Sweden. Under the European protocol of ceremonies, always carefully observed by the leaders of independent Ukraine (in contrast to the leadership of some CIS countries), a lady should by all means wear a hat during an official audience with the royal couple. Hence Ukraine’s first lady in dignified manner represented her country in Ms. Mukhina’s fashion designs.
And quite recently, Ms. Mukhina created an haute couture collection of her own, called Brilliance. Among its plums are natural-leather long-sling cellophane cases adorned with imitation diamonds. One can wear these as a sword belt or a holster, which furnishes the owner with a highly piquant and resolute image. There is also a long series of leather necklaces (this is what these extremely fashionable ornaments, sometimes popularly called neckbands here, are referred to in the West). The most chic ones are made of python skin and adorned with expensive fittings. What is in vogue is a miniature evening purse with an original strap, which one can wear both over the shoulder and on the belt. There are also leather formal handbags, one, red with a pearl-studded symbol of dollar, being dedicated to the memory of American superstar artist Andy Warhol (incidentally, an ethnic Ukrainian and Greek Catholic).
It is for the first time in Ukraine that accessories have been accorded this level of attention. First, all items are absolutely exclusive and made by hand in conformity with high-quality individual technology. Secondly, as world standards require, every collection is supplied with a unique image catalogue representing not only Ms. Mukhina’s products but also a certain lifestyle of an affluent, socially- assertive, modern, free, and desired woman. Moreover, special attention has been paid to the general acceptability of luxury items from trademark labels to packing.
Svitlana Volnova, one of the most brilliant figures of Ukrainian fashion and the project producer, managed to present the accessories in a well thought out manner unprecedented in this country. “The philosophy of these item, things for the elect, required an appropriate presentation from the very outset,” Ms. Volnova says, “Everything, from Tamara Mukhina’s new trademark to a special photo session and a catalogue carefully checked visually and ideologically, should meet the modern world demands. Packing also caused a lot of trouble. I had to turn to a US design firm for the desired result in general acceptability, adequate to the level of the accessories the creator made.”
All these efforts were the result of not only the desire to meet civilized standards (which is in itself highly commendable) but also of stark necessity. The collection will soon appear in some vogue boutiques of Kyiv. And a little later, getting ready for Christmas, it will be presented in the US. The project is being supported from the US side by The MAPping Alliance, an influential business group.
