The Italian National Chamber of Fashion was founded in 1958. The Ukrainian agenda was very distant from the sphere of aesthetics until well into Ukrainian independence, when the first Fashion Week was held in Kyiv in 1997 — later turned into the Ukrainian Fashion Week. Naturally, the know-how of such cradles of style as Italy inspires curiosity and a desire to adopt it. In their turn, Italians are interested in the young Ukrainian fashion — timid yet daring. It is gateway not only to new designers’ names, but also to a whole new world of Eastern European culture, which had been hidden behind the Iron Curtain for decades. Will the Ukrainian Fashion Week find its place among those New York, London, Milan, and Paris? This was the topic of the conversation The Day had with Mr. Mario BOSELLI, president of the National Chamber for Italian Fashion, who visited Kyiv on an invitation from the Ukrainian Fashion Week organizing committee.
Mr. Boselli, welcome to the Ukrainian Fashion Week in Kyiv! Our first question is about Italian fashion. The Chamber for Italian Fashion, over which you preside, has a national status, just like universities, museums, libraries and other objects of intellectual import in your country. This status implies that for Italians, fashion is part of their culture. How do you see the status of fashion in today’s Italy?
“First of all I would like to say that I’m really happy to be able to watch the Ukrainian Fashion Week here, in Kyiv. This is my first visit to Ukraine, and Kyiv seems to be an absolutely awesome city. In particular, I was impressed by a lot of monumental architecture and how well it combines with greenery: nowadays, this is a rarity.
“I have walked the streets a lot watching the people in order to understand their lifestyles, their interests, and how they dress. I was pleasantly surprised to see that many Ukrainians were very elegant, and even young people dress very well, to my taste. Projecting my observations onto Italy, I think one can feel a certain connection here. Ukrainians and Italians are close and alike in many respects, in particular, in their attitude towards love, and in the wealth of our cultures.
“Also I would like to draw a parallel between our Milano Moda Donna and your Ukrainian Fashion Week. I came to Kyiv after having visited fashion weeks in New York, Milan, and Paris. And I feel that I must not only praise the organizers, but also pay them a huge compliment: in my opinion, they were able to work miracles. They hold fashion shows every hour, one after the other. We are able to do this only thanks to several rooms which host the shows in turn.
“Besides, everything that was happening backstage was also organized very efficiently and professionally. So I can say that Ukrainian Fashion Week is an extremely effective structure, albeit not very big.”
This year, the Fashion Week in Milan, organized by the Chamber for Italian Fashion, changed its location for the first time in 30 years. It went out right onto the city streets. How did you dare undertake such a transformation? And what did you get from it?
“We decided to break out of the closed spaces and hold shows right on the streets, against the background of recognizable sights and historical monuments. First of all, it was urged on by fashion designers, who needed a change of space. At the same time, we decided to alter the softwork, that is, the ‘software,’ and alter our approaches to the organization of our Fashion Week.
“In this fall’s Fashion Week, we involved all of the outstanding designers. The selection procedure was tougher. We actually ruled out 12 fashion houses which, from our perspective, did not live up to standards. Instead, we were able to include some younger designers, or those who have noticeably grown professionally over the recent time.”
Lilia Pustovit, whose show you have seen, is soon taking her collection to Georgia Fashion Week and Riga Fashion Week, two young fashion events. What is your attitude to those fashion weeks which eventually spring up in the post-Soviet space? What do you think of their potential? Will they be eventually able to complete the main fashion axis New York-London-Milan-Paris?
“Fashion weeks in the capitals you just named are to a certain extent a historical phenomenon. We can only welcome the rise of other fashion weeks, yours, the Russian one, and the one in Berlin that sprung into existence a bit earlier.
“Each of them is of course associated with certain local, national peculiarities. I think it is great that these fashion weeks are held one after another, in waves. It is very important to make sure they do not overlap, otherwise ensuring their international character will be quite a challenging thing to do.”
The National Chamber for Italian Fashion is a strategic partner of the Russian Fashion Week. Last year, you had a kind of exchange of designers: Milan received Russian designers while young Italian masters went to Moscow. What are your plans concerning Ukraine?
“Our relations with the Russian Fashion Week have lasted five years already. Last year we indeed exchanged designers, and I think it was a positive experience. Prior to our meeting I had a talk with Iryna Danylevska (founder and president of the Ukrainian Fashion Week organizing committee. – The Day). I think we will try and launch a similar project together with the Ukrainian Fashion Week. The concept is to let the delegation of the Ukrainian Fashion Week take an active part in the Italian Fashion Week next September. This will be the first step on the path of our cooperation.”
Ukrainians love wearing Italian-made clothes. We hope Italians will someday wear clothes made by Ukrainian fashion designers. But as far as I know, Italy has got very strict rules protecting its fashion market. What is this protection aimed at?
“My answer to the question if there will be a day when Italians will gladly wear clothes made by Ukrainian designers is a categorical ‘yes!’ The Chinese experience shows that if once they were only able to mimic, nowadays they are quite successful as designers.
“As far as the protection of our fashion market goes, first and foremost it concerns the war on counterfeits. It is an absolutely non-specific principle which has to work regardless of the country of origin, be it foreign or domestic brands. Counterfeiting is not to be tolerated in any case.”
