(London) Their outfits are made of ties that 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 on Tuesday to support their country.
The three collections of the brands Kseniaschnaider, Paskal and Frolov were imagined in Ukraine, despite missile attacks and air raid sirens.
“I think it’s important not to stop,” says 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 feared “never to be able to create again”.
But after moving to Hungary, then Germany and finally the UK, she decided she had to continue in fashion, for her own good and that of her team.
“We can’t stop, even if the reality is terrible. You have to keep doing what you do best, always be creative, try to bring beauty to this tragic world,” she said after the show.
“There are a lot of new concepts in all of this,” she adds. “It’s not just about being a designer anymore, I have to save my culture and my traditions”.
Kseniaschnaider’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection features numerous jeans, the brand’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.
Wheat ears and crystals
For Julie Paskal, from the brand of the same name, the four Ukrainian designers present for Fashion Week all wondered whether to continue fashion while the war is raging.
She believes she made the right decision, feeling “incredibly grateful” for 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 whatever you can,” she adds.
For his part, designer Ivan Frolov, whose brand is inspired by drag and transgender cultures, presented a collection of hand-knitted sweaters with ears of wheat – the symbol of Ukraine – and corset dresses embroidered with Swarovski crystals .
In a statement, the Ukrainian Fashion Week moved to London said that “creating collections is our form of resistance to war”. “This show at London Fashion Week is […] a reflection of the courage of all Ukrainians”.