A year after the Russian invasion, Ukrainian designers parade and support their country at London Fashion Week

Their outfits are made of the ties men no longer wear and patterns symbolizing “the fragility of life”. A year after the Russian invasion, Ukrainian designers took advantage of London Fashion Week, which presents the autumn-winter 2023-24 collections from February 17 to 21, to support their country.

Ukrainian Fashion Week, moved to London, explained that “Creating collections is our form of resistance to the war. This fashion show is (…) a reflection of the courage of all Ukrainians”. The three collections of the Kseniaschnaider, Paskal and Frolov labels, imagined in Ukraine, despite missile attacks and air raid sirens, paraded on the catwalks of London Fashion Week on February 21.

“I think it’s important not to stop,” explains Ksenia Schnaider, originally with her husband from the Kseniaschnaider brand. The stylist has traveled back and forth between Ukraine and the United Kingdom, where her daughter is educated. At the beginning of the Russian offensive, when she had to leave kyiv, she was afraid of “never again being able to create”. But after going to Hungary, then Germany and, finally, the United Kingdom, she chose to continue fashion, for her good and that of her team.

“We can’t stop”

“We can’t stop, even if the reality is terrible. We have to continue what we do best, always be creative, try to bring beauty to this tragic world”she told AFP after the parade. “There are a lot of new concepts in all this”she adds. “It’s not just about being a designer anymore, I have to save my culture and my traditions.”

Kseniaschnaider’s collection features numerous jeans, the label’s hallmark, as well as blazers and skirts made with unsold ties. “Ukrainian men don’t need ties anymore because they are in combat”she explains.

For Julie Paskal, of the label of the same name, the Ukrainian designers present for Fashion Week all asked themselves the question of whether to continue their work in fashion while the war is raging. She feels she made the right decision, feeling “incredibly grateful” vis-à-vis London Fashion Week, which hosted the Ukrainian shows. She presented creations with patterns in the shape of butterflies, inspired according to her by the “fragility of life and death”.

She now lives in Germany but regularly returns to Ukraine. “I think for all of us, we had the will to move forward (…) because you can’t just sit and cry, you have to move, do everything you can”she adds.

Stylist Ivan Frolov, whose label is inspired by drag and transgender cultures, presented a collection of hand-knitted sweaters with ears of wheat, a symbol of Ukraine, and corset dresses embroidered with Swarovski crystals. .