Six Ukrainian designers show their clothing lines in Washington, D. C.
The members of the organizing committee of Ukrainian Fashion Week, which will take place on March 11-19, 2008, are convinced that fashion is too broad a phenomenon to dictate only wardrobe rules. At the press conference traditionally held to kick off Fashion Week an entire fashion events calendar for the next six months was unveiled.
Ukrainian fashion is gradually gaining renown both in and outside Ukraine. On Feb. 24 a group of six designers (Lilia Pustovit, Oksana Karavanska, Tetiana Zemskova, Olena Vorozhbyt, Oleksii Zalevsky, and Olena Burenina) took part in DC Fashion Week in the US capital.
“Of course, the most popular and reputable Fashion Weeks are held in New York and Los Angeles, but in order to understand this market and the way it operates, DC Fashion Week is a very good format, in my opinion, ,” said Iryna Danylevska, the head of the Ukrainian Fashion Week organizing committee.
Ukrainian Fashion Week will be preceded by the Trade Mark Defile, a three-day presentation of the leading brands operating on the Ukrainian clothing market. The main goal of this event, which has run concurrently with Ukrainian Fashion Week since 2006, is to show the evolution from “show to industry” and reflect the strivings of the major fashion trend-setters in Ukraine to turn fashion into both an aesthetic and market phenomenon. This year a large number of trademarks will present their commercial, mass-produced collections: Yunona, ANT, Sela, Natali Bolgar, Serebrova, Maria Collection, Para Solo, and KahianiT. The famous Ukrainian designer Iryna Karavai will present her second, democratized line.
The eight-day Ukrainian Fashion Week will take place in the traditional format. The fashion crowd will see a total of 42 fashion shows and will witness the comeback of designer Olha Hromova whose Proekt 273 will be shown on March 12. The UFW will end with Lilia Pustovit’s show. Pustovit now represents her own Poustovit brand after the extension of her contract with Nota Bene failed to materialize. This time around, the schedule of events does not include the traditional men’s day.
“We cannot devote an entire day to one event if it does not involve five to seven shows. The circumstances are such that some men’s clothing designers cannot participate in the Fashion Week. But the last day will be devoted almost entirely to men’s collections. On March 19 we will see the collections of Anna Sosnovska, Serge Smolin from Idol, and Alexandr Gapchuk,” Danylevska explained.
The organizers will focus special attention on the new faces of Ukrainian fashion. Scheduled for March 18 and 19 are shows by young fashion designers (New Names) and young but successful designers (Fresh Fashion).
“For us the most pleasant thing about Fashion Week is that our “creative chain,” together with the New Names and Fresh Fashion shows, is working well, and we keep discovering new talents for the fashion industry,” Danylevska said.
The Ukrainian Fashion Week calendar features an array of interesting events, but the most intriguing will definitely be the charity event Kyiv Fashion Park, which is aimed at embellishing Kyiv parks with works by Ukraine’s most famous sculptors.
“We promote fashion not only as clothing and jewelry but as a vast stratum of culture that touches on everything,” Volodymyr Nechyporuk, the main producer of Ukrainian Fashion Week, told The Day. “Maybe some people are wondering why in the world Ukrainian Fashion Week is dealing with sculpture. Fashion is actually an extremely broad concept. It includes technology, innovations, ideas, music, behavior, and the fashionable trend of becoming a patron and patriot of a city and state.”
