A suit as a way of life

Linen and silk clothing with mandatory leather or chiffon appliques as well as unusual thin, wool evening dresses with long trains and small jackets will be in fashion this summer. That is the conclusion of couturiers and designers, who took part in the traditional festival Textiles and Fashion-2006 held in Donetsk. The fashion conclave gathered designers not only from Donetsk oblast but also Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Lutsk, Kherson, Sumy, the Crimea, as well as Russia and Belarus.

The festival has been held in the Donbas region for quite a few years. Its main objective is to showcase the uniqueness of designers from all of Ukraine’s regions, as well as to popularize and boost the image of national clothing trademarks. The festival organizers succeeded in presenting Ukrainian fashion ideas in the best-ever light — from haute couture collections to pret-a-porter. “It is uninteresting and boring just to create collections. Above all, they should be accessible to the average person,” said Dr. Vyacheslav Zaitsev, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts and a longtime jury chairman, characterizing the festival’s main trend.

Festival participants competed in five categories: best textiles (won by the Volyn-based Edelvika and Silk Factory companies), best commercial collection, and best children’s, students’, and designer’s personal collection. The designers of all collections were awarded special diplomas, prizes, and exclusive memorabilia made by jewelers from Kramatorsk, in Donetsk oblast. Winners also received a special gift: Zaitsev’s huge book The World of Fashion on which the author worked for over 30 years.

The competitors noted that the Russian couturier’s master class was an added bonus. Zaitsev said he purchased imitation fur for his autumn/winter 2006 collection in Ukraine and advised all fashion aficionados of both genders to look for linen clothing made in our country. The Russian designer especially likes the line of men’s linen suits called “Return of Style” from the Donetsk-based salon Pani Moda.

“A suit is a way of life. A good suit also means success in business,” he said, emphasizing that today men’s business suits do not necessarily require a class white shirt and look quite stylish with a plain T-shirt. The best colors are fawn, beige, and sand, as well as the orange-red hues created by Zaitsev. For next season he is also predicting that men’s sweaters made of thin wool and styled like the classical Russian shirt with large pockets will be very popular.

This season women will opt for gold-braiding, long skirts with slits revealing hot pants, closed dresses, neck scarves, and an obligatory narrow belt to show off a neat waistline.

Zaitsev says that leather items with fancy cloth appliques are “in.” The couturier noted the Eden collection by the Donetsk-based designers Liudmyla Harnyk and Olena Ivanyshyna, which includes evening dresses made of lightweight textiles decorated with leather appliques. Chunky jewelry is also popular: necklaces of various-sized round beads and hairpins in the shape of huge artificial flowers. If the designers’ statements are anything to go by, elegance, finesse, and taste are the fashion watchwords today.

As Zaitsev pointed out, a genuine revelation for him at this year’s Textiles and Fashion festival was the children’s collections, which are “full of joy and radiance.” He thinks the revived interest in the national costume has deep philosophical meaning. The maestro is also happy to note that even the youngest Ukrainian designers have produced very stylish collections “without overdoing it” or capitalizing on different styles and themes.

The designer revealed that he often visits Donetsk because he likes the “style and obsession” of the local couturiers. “I took a liking to the city and its people. I have seen progress. I see that designers in Donetsk and Ukraine in general really want to grow and develop. There is a very powerful energy potential here,” Zaitsev emphasized.

But when The Day asked him if he is planning to open his own chain of retail outlets in Donetsk-since he likes the coal miners’ capital so much- Zaitsev gave an emphatic no, explaining, “I have already tried out everything. I can only work at home, in Moscow. Unfortunately, I have been used so often and so nefariously that I can no longer afford to do this. I improve and perfect every design. This can only be done in one’s own country. And I can no longer work under other conditions,” he stressed.

Zaitsev quickly added that Donetsk residents should not be upset: the city has the Fashion Laboratory, where his students work to implement his ideas. He says there are a lot of talented professional designers in Ukraine, who make stylish and interesting items, and our country may be very proud of them.