Ukrainian Fashion Week starts when the world’s main fashion capitals – Paris, London, Milan, and New York – have already said their word and it is known which image will be in the greatest demand in the next spring and summer.
Ukrainian fashion keeps up with global trends, but more and more of our designers also strive to express their own individuality, outlook, and knowledge of the world. For a trend is in fact rather a volatile thing, and the way the designer interprets, for example, the burning question of war depends on his or her level only. Many participants in the 39th Ukrainian Fashion Week, especially young people, were tackling this theme. For instance, in the Demob 2016 show, young designer Daria Halushka tried to illustrate a soldier’s feeling of coming back to peaceful life at home. The author attempted to reappraise the military uniform and adapt it to everyday life. All the models are executed in a color gamut typical of army clothes. On the contrary, Sofia Rousinovich’s ROUSSIN brand tried to use war as a provocation. The Give Me Peace collection shows war as a way to earn money and grab a piece of wealth. Hence is the reverse name – Give Me Piece. The collection makes use of such military attributes as, hand-made khaki-color suede as camouflage net and rough footwear that resembles army boots. Light colored dresses strewn with protective patches create the impression of a camouflage cloth, while the pink and blue color range symbolizes an arrogant, or even indifferent, attitude of people to war. What complements the images is bright innerwear with pictures of superheroes.
The opening day of Ukrainian Fashion Week is traditionally considered as a “strong-impact” one. It is this day that attracts most of the VIP visitors. On this day, too, Ukrainian catwalk gurus usually display their collections. One of them is Lilia Poustovit. It is her oeuvre that defines and determines, to a large extent, today’s Ukrainian fashion.
THE AMG BRAND DISPLAYED THE MILITARY STYLE AND BREAK-DANCE CULTURE / Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day
In the new collection, Poustovit, who marked the 10th anniversary of her brand this year, showed that she is not afraid to experiment with colors and styles, but, at the same time, she knows how to keep her own vision and a recognizable designing manner intact. She “broke” almost all the silhouette-forming laws and demonstrated an interesting and bold collection – dresses, blouses, T-shirts, and pajama-cut overalls with tracksuit-style stripes and marine elements. The combination of white, navy blue, royal blue, yellow, and orange is the main color of this collection.
BACK IN… THE USSR(!)
The show “Back in the USSR” by a young designer, Artem Klymchuk, was perhaps the main surprise of Ukrainian Fashion Week. The talented and promising designer has been showing new and interesting styles of clothes in the past few years and voiced his intention to add uncommonness to Ukrainian fashion.
This time Klymchuk decided to take an epater les bourgeois approach, but he did not take into account an important detail – the current political situation in the state and attitude of Ukrainians to that era.
In Ukraine, the Soviet Union is first of all associated with the Gulag and Holodomor, not with 1.20-ruble sausage, black-and-white TV sets, and dial phones.
The designer himself put down his flirtation with history to the particularities of his creative work. “I draw a clear dividing line between politics and culture. Likewise, Russia and the Soviet Union are two different countries for me. I did not live in the Soviet era, but that period is interesting to me. I like Soviet music, cinema, literature, and architecture. So I decided to make a collection of clothes and fantasize on this subject. For example, nobody likes carnations, but it is my favorite flower, and I plan to make it the main flower of our brand. The Soviet Union was totally differed to what I might think of it now – there were many good things at the time, and one must not reject them,” Klymchuk said, commenting on his collection.
YANA BELIAIEVA RECONSIDERED THE 1920s FASHION AND PRESENTED BRILLIANT FRILLED DRESSES / Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day
Fashion Week founder Iryna Danylevska does not think, either, that there is something terrible in the name of Klymchuk’s show. “The 1970s is a bright, very complimentary, and feminine style. It is the period of late hippiedom. We, who were born in the USSR, remember and associate those times with events, while designers live in a globalized world,” Danylevska told The Day. Yet she confessed that she does have a prejudice against the Soviet era. “I have always been saying that the 1980s will not catch on in Ukraine because, for me, the broad-shouldered jacket is a lying TV announcer who says that the Chornobyl power plant accident is not a serious matter. But for the younger generation, who did not live in the Soviet Union, it is an interesting history and fashion,” Danylevska said.
COMMERCIALISM, HYPE, SHOCKIG BEHAVIOR
Ukrainian Fashion Week designers more and more often take an epater les bourgeois attitude, for they consider this event as a way to make a name for themselves rather than to make money on orders from buyers. Like it or not, fashion in Ukraine is still a creative pursuit, not business.
Music became a source of inspiration for such designers as Aysina, Yana Beliaieva, AMG, and Olena Burba. They forecast that disco- and rock-n-roll-style clothes – dresses with frills, semi-transparent dresses and shirts, and high-waist baggy trousers – will come back into vogue next season.
Celebrities are people who choose bold images more often than ordinary Ukrainians do. They seem to be the target audience of fashion shows.
Singer Masha Fokina, who has been opting for Olha Navrotska’s designs for about 15 years, chose some of Olena Burba’s items this time.
BLACK AND WHITE SUITS AND DRESSES WITH BRIGHT ELEMENTS FORMED THE BASIS OF THE BOBKOVA BRAND’S COLLECTION / Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day
“I like very much the new trend of Ukrainian designers who use English-language phrases. This is a trend of not only Ukraine, but also America. In all probability, I will wear long skirts again,” she said.
According to showman Viacheslav Solomko, Olena Burba’s collection will allow girls to go off the beaten track. “Olena Burba is showing ease in clothing again. Every time she chooses incredible textiles and knows how to combine them. Olena creates images that maintain a balance – she never oversteps the line of vulgarity. Her garments are on sale, and media persons will look fine wearing them at parties and soirees. The new collection includes unconventional things which will help girls go off the beaten track,” he said.
Olha Navrotska is one of the favorite designers of Ukrainian celebrities. This time she presented the theme of Africa – a flowery collection of dresses and suits with African ornaments. There were also some totally transparent dresses that looked in fact like peignoirs. The collection’s prevailing colors are olive, navy blue, and white.
Some of Ukrainian celebrities also came to support a star designer – they were wearing new NAVRO dresses during the show.
“I liked absolutely everything. I’d like to try on garments and touch fabrics. You can wear this designer’s dresses both every day and at a society event. I’ve chosen several dresses for myself, but I must try them on,” gymnast Lilia Podkopaieva said.
In the view of TV presenter Masha Yefrosynina, NAVRO dresses “will look wonderful on the screen.”
“It was an offbeat NAVRO. I like it very much when designers do not copycat themselves. The dresses look fantastic on the screen. To make footage, one must be an artist, and I am sure this attire will be ideal for filming. I chose an effective long ornamented dress,” she said.
The rebellious designer Oleksii Zalevsky is also one of those who aim to be the object of an epater les bourgeois attitude. His new collection resembles home clothes – knitted, woolen and velvet mini- and maxi-dresses, as well as dressing gowns and overalls. The combination of green, black, pink, and navy blue colors, and a traditional contrast between black and white, were the main trends of this collection.
“The dress code has long changed its meaning. Millionaires in gray T-shirts come to see office employees, while sneakers are worn together with evening dresses in a concert hall. So the ‘Dress Code-S’ collection is for those who are fed up with having to wear the so-called school uniform,” Zalevsky commented.
In addition to showbiz stars, Kyiv’s young people also like epater les bourgeois attitude and originality. To stand out against the backdrop of the mass, teenagers prefer the combination of black and pink. The collection for the youth of Kyiv was presented by a young designer, Anastasia Didenko, founder of the SIYA brand.
“We showed a collection devoted to the hangouts of a degenerated Kyiv – this is what has emerged here, in the capital. It is not a new theme in Ukrainian fashion. Chokers are now part of my brand. The target audience of this collection is bold people who are not afraid to be misunderstood and still feel comfortable,” Didenko said.
Tetiana Zolotariova, spokesperson of the Fatherland party, a regular client of RITO, also chose some novelties for a new season. “The RITO collection is, in my view, very light. It calls up an association with the sky, the sea, the sun, and clouds. A tender blue color also appeals to me. RITO has traditionally mad its models very feminine, thus accentuating the silhouette. What particularly characterizes the brand is a democratic nature of models, prices, and comfort. There is an expression: ‘beach, bath, and restaurant.’ It is about this designer’s garments. I liked very much a pleated blue skirt. I am sure I will get one. I was also astonished with a knitted swimsuit – I think it will be a hallmark of the summer season,” Zolotariova emphasized.
The classical black and white colors will never go out of fashion. A lot of designers used these colors to create the spring-summer 2017 collection. Clothes undoubtedly mirror our mood and are a way of self-expression. But does the tendency to use black and white really show what will be topical in the next spring and summer, or is it an attempt of designers to get adjusted to the crisis conditions and create all-purpose garments?
Designers Khrystyna Bobkova and DATUNA forecast a black-and-white-color spring. In the designers’ view, black and white dresses and silken suits, with some of the body parts bared, will be the main trend.
The well-known violinist and singer Asia Akhat prefers the DATUNA brand. “I like the collection very much and have already chosen several models for myself. I always buy her clothes, and everything from this collection can be worn,” Asia Akhat said.
Loose dressing-gowns and kimonos are also a trend of the spring season.
“Black-and-white shades are classic and always in demand. I liked very much the bright accents in the collection, which add the novelty of today. I like Bobkova’s collections because they are always interesting, albeit unclear sometimes. With an image like this, you can go to the office and to a place of recreation. I have already chosen a lilac-colored dress,” said Maira Osmanova, an admirer of the designer.
UKRAINIAN STYLE
There are designers who try to use Ukrainian ethnic themes in their collections.
The designing duet of Kateryna Kvit and Oksana Holubchenko, founders of the T. Moska brand, has decided to popularize Ukrainian ornaments and embroideries and thus bring back authentic ethnic motifs to fashion. They have made embroidered cardigans as well as dresses, blouses, and suits in the ethnic style.
“This collection is typical of us because we used knitting. We tried to express Ukrainian motifs in the new embroidered items. Spring is always full of bright colors. But this collection, named Regeneration, is based on black and white colors – the so-called regeneration from dark to bright and vice versa. There are also some rich accents. We always create garments which you can wear both in the morning and in the evening and still look inimitable,” Kvit said.
Ethnic motifs are also present in the collection of the designer Serebrova. Anna-Maria, a duet of Ukrainian singers and actresses, has chosen several scenic images from Serebrova’s collection.
“It was written in the collection’s description that the designer has projected the image of the Ukrainian woman as a citizen of the world. In other words, it is a person who respects and knows the history of her country, but she is open to the entire world. We are Ukrainian women of this very kind. This is why we liked this collection very much, and we saw ourselves in these images. We derived satisfaction from the collection as such and from the musical accompaniment which drew our great attention. Music complements the perception of garments and images. We chose several items and imagined wearing them on stage,” Anna and Maria said.
