La mode a la Ukraine

Passions over Paris Fashion Week have of late faded into the background and the center of fashion events has moved to Kyiv, where Ukrainian designers demonstrated their Fall-Winter 2010/2011 collections

Many connoisseurs of performances and free alcoholic beverages came to the party on the opening of Fashion Week. The occasion for the hoopla was a presentation of the collection of fashion designer Fedor Vozianov, whose name up until now was known only to a limited number of Kyiv fashion buffs. Vozianov was featured in the March issue of the Vogue Fedora fashion magazine as one of the top 8 most promising participants in the White fashion wear exhibition.

A young clone of Karl Lagerfeld, one of the most cited fashion designers in the world, walked alongside the snow-white catwalk waiting for the show to start and all guests were treated to unlimited Margaritas. This 30-minute pre-show hospitality primed the audience for the “outer limits of how closed attire by Vozianov can be worn”.

The first day was full of events. For the umpteenth year in a row Ukrainian designer Lilia Poustovit opened Ukrainian Fashion Week. In her new collection she played on shades of quartz, amethyst, granite and marble in all their innate lightness and delicacy.

Viktoria Gres, another Ukrainian fashion designer with her own particular style, also gave preference to the use of natural tones and soft forms. Using such materials as fox fur, velvet and chiffon embroidered with crystals and ostrich feathers, she created a sumptuous, yet not too flashy image.

Olga Gromova chose another path. Stiff drapery accentuating the shoulders, dark colors diluted with red and light-beige, glossy fabrics proved that next winter her fans will not be accused of excess modesty.

While the models gracefully walked down the runway, backstage work was in full swing. Stylists quickly dolled up the model’s coiffures and make-up, assistants helped change dresses for the next exit and photographers chased to snap the most expressive shot. And so it went from early morning into the late hours of the night.

The works of young designers were also exhibited at Ukrainian Fashion Week. According to the show’s founder Iryna Danylevska, the collection by Olena Przhonska has the best prospects of success in the future among all six new collections presented at this year’s show. 

As for well-known designers, Danylevska noted collections by Oleksiy Zalevskiy, Anna Bublik, Lilia Poustovit and Viktoria Gres. But the most astonishing was the collection by Iryna Karavay. Inspired by the beauty of one of the most ancient monuments in Ukraine – St. Sophia’s Cathedral – the designer created items that fanatics can fall in love with at first sight and for time immemorial. With the accuracy of a sculptor she literally moulded forms impressive by their brevity and perfection. The modest charm is reinforced by soft cashmere and a sophisticated trimming reminiscent of sculpting on the facades of the cathedral. The designer admitted that she could afford to do a lot of handwork as this collection did not envisage a large circulation. Karavay added that she was not trying to send out a new message in her work.