The first hints of the new wave of patriotism struck Ukrainian designers over a year ago, when Ksenia Schnaider used Trident, a national emblem of Ukraine, as a motif on her sweatshirts. Then the Kiev Fashion Days campaign featured Ukrainian top model Alla Kostromichova wearing a cape made of the yellow and blue national flag in March 2013, and designer Anton Belinsky used a huge flag to adorn the backdrop of his runway, dedicating his collection to the same colors—a sunny yellow and a deep blue. A month after his show, the revolution in Ukraine began.
How did the fashion community react? Many designers were at Maidan Square, protesting by night, working by day, creating fashion stories on the streets of revolutionary Kiev and declaring their desire to live in a European country. When things started to heat up in early February, the majority of the country’s designers were preparing for their showcases in Europe—the Kiev Fashion Days show in London, the Fashion Scout showroom in Paris. Anna October and Julie Paskal, who were shortlisted for the LVMH prize, were trying to finish their collections on time despite the fact that their seamstresses were afraid to go outside.
Leaving those scary times behind, designers from Ukraine are ready for the new future of their country—and continue to respond in full, creative force. “Fashion can also be a weapon of hope,” wrote Vanessa Friedman in a Financial Times article about a recent showcase of six young Ukrainian designers in Paris, and she was right: For the majority of the designers who represent the new generation of independent Ukraine, their work is their means of survival. No matter what the news headlines are, they continue to work and promote national identity, an issue that never had more urgency than it does now. Here, seven designers who are shaping the face of Ukrainian fashion now.
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