Three months ago the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River in Kherson, dealt Ukraine another devastating blow as it battled the ongoing Russian invasion. For many it was impossible to feel anything but despair, outrage, and grief, but Ukrainian fashion designer Nadya Dzyak, looked beneath the rubble and found beauty, hope and strength.
At London Fashion Week, Dzyak and two more designers, Elena Reva and Ksenia Schnaider, showed their SS24 collections in a display of defiance against the Russian aggressor. “This show is our manifestation of will. This is the realisation of our strength and resilience,” a pre-recorded voiceover announced to the audience to mark the start of the show.
Ksenia Schnaider, founder of label KSENIASCHNAIDER, returned to the Ukrainian fashion event sponsored by The British Fashion Council, this time using new technology in combination with past designs.
Destroyed denim offered a new take on Schnaider’s Cossack jeans – inspired by The Cossacks, a semi-nomadic pre-Soviet Ukrainian tribe. “We used AI to generate new designs based on old silhouettes, so you can see some very unusual jeans on the runway,” the Kyiv-based designer said. “It’s really important to somehow shine a light on our history, our traditions and send a message to the world about Ukraine.”
Schnaider also presented three looks from her latest collaboration with sportswear giant Adidas, including two futbolkas, or football shirts. The final look was a dress in the vibrant blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag. “Creativity – it’s our weapon, our tool,” she said.
Elena Reva, founder of womenswear brand ELENAREVA, looked at empowerment in her collection. “We have to be powerful now. We have to keep going. We have to work. We have to be happy, even in this terrible time. We have to continue our life. That’s why we need so much power,” she said.
Taking inspiration from the Trypillian culture of the Carpathian Mountains – a significant place in Ukrainian folklore – Reva’s garments combined the free-flowing silks of dresses and skirts with the tailored structure of suits and corsets, looking at the line between the masculine and feminine. Fabric prints were developed with artist Lina Nechipolina, using neutral tones in black, white, khaki and pink to reference Trypillian clay ornaments.
“My team inspired me a lot,” Reva reflected. “It’s terrible to go every day, to continue their job, and to be in a good mood and to give energy. All clothes have energy inside from our team.”
Dnipro-born designer Nadia Dzyak’s clothes were instead made deliberately to inspire joy, with bright colours to lift wearers out of the darkness. After the Kakhovka Dam disaster happened so close to Dnipro, where her label NADYA DZYAK is based, she wanted to symbolically restore the art that was lost and damaged in the region.
Folk artist Polina Raiko’s museum house in a village near the dam was one of the iconic landmarks destroyed in the flooding. Dzyak decided to represent Raiko’s paintings in her garments. “I saw Polina Raiko’s paintings and I understood that she was very kind and optimistic. She lives in her imagination in her beautiful kind world,” Dzyak said. The collection emulated a softer world, with delicate tulle shirts in bright pastels and dresses in gingham. “I was painting with ruffles,” she said.
The dress that closed the show took until the night before to complete. “We finished it last night in our hotel. We rented a sewing machine to sew the last ruffle, the last stitches,” Dzyak said. And her commitment to her craft is undeniable. “I know that our clothes make women happy and that gives power. This is our mission.” How does Dzyak find such hope in the midst of disaster? “I find hope in our people. Only in people, because we are so strong, so brave.”
Supporting his friends on the front row was Ukrainian designer Ivan Frolov, who showed his previous collection at February’s Ukrainian Fashion Week in London and had a solo show and presentation in London this season. “It’s an opportunity for us to continue to talk about Ukraine, to say the war is not over and to show the world how talented Ukrainian designers are,” he said. “Even in such a terrible situation, we continue creating our collections - sometimes without electricity, sometimes under rocket attacks. We’re still fighting.”
