Fashion: Made in Ukraine
A follow-up on the discussion with Little Miss Moi on Fashion. Kyiv fashion may either scare to death or wildly inspire newcomers. There are several kinds of sources for obtaining clothing here. The masses wear bazaar-purchased clothing that commands the worst taste of Turkish and Chinese manufacturers. Middle-class makes rich the A group (Mango, Promod, etc). The cream of the crop shop in London, Milan and Paris. Petrified expatriates order from gap.com and zappos.com and beg their friends to bear the overseas shipping costs.
Local clothing production is almost non-existent. There used to be a nice “democratic” British-Ukrainian label called Sensus which is no more. Several Ukrainian acting designers do not make the weather here just yet.
Although a pleasant encounter in Lviv Magnus mall sparked some hope. There I bumped into an opening of a High Design Group store, representing Andre Tan, Zalevsky, etc. Having walked in the boutique, I was instantly examined by half a dozen super-fashionably dressed ladies and gents lounging around the cashiers’. As I found out later, some of them were the designers represented in the store, therefore their natural curiosity about which garment I will approach. I felt terribly uncomfortable, especially when I went though the whole store and found absolutely nothing that would fit me or appear “normal” to my discerning eye. Asymmetrical cuts, tassels, although sans glitter ,were good for the catwalk, but definitely not for braving the Kyiv streets. Here goes credit to the designers though: unlike many, they sport their own designs, hat tipped to Ludmila Kislenko, who was one of the discerning eyes.
A minute after a herd of models run in to try on the garments for the opening show later that night. Suddenly all seemed normal and the target audience of the shop has been identified. Art for the sake of art.
Photo courtesy of Vysokyi Zamok.
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February 20th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Very true analysis. It’s not surprising though, since fashion wasn’t very important in the Soviet Union, at least I don’t remember it to be. Still, I think the fashion industry has started growing in Ukraine, and it can only go up.
As a side note, I think Europeans in general dress much better than North Americans. Especially Eastern Europeans have a great sense of style, even if they don’t always have the means to buy the most expensive designer clothing.
February 20th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
You are right about sense of style. And this over-the-top fashion will pass as people will get fed up with the cheap thrills. At least I hope so.
From my humble experience, one big difference between Eastern Europe and North America is that expensive does not mean quality here just yet. People pay top dollar for ugliest stuff here (thinking of D&G) - the market is in its storming period, unbalanced and treacherous.
February 23rd, 2007 at 1:52 am
[...] makes this observation on the way Ukrainian women dress: “Kyiv fashion may either scare to death or wildly inspire newcomers.” Veronica [...]
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:17 pm
I liked your post a lot! It HAS gotten a bit better here fasion wise but I wish that there were more stores with less expensive and flashy clothes that would fall apart after being washed 3 times! But it is awful nice to have fashionable handbags at decent prices.
February 24th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Dear olechko. OK I’m ignorant, BUT, I know that Milla Jovovich is Ukrainian, and she recently launched a label. Do you think this or will inspire young kids to dress more ‘funky’, or even, to start design?
In Australia, there are a lot of young designers because there are many universities and technical colleges that offer fashion design. Perhaps a university with an arts faculty needs to take up the challenge?
I agree with sergei that I think people here take great care to look STUNNING - the problem is that the clothes are often unfashionable compared to what’s going on in western Europe on the catwalks. I worked with a Polish girl, who was transferred to Australia for six months, and she has the most wicked fashion sense, and she said that in the past couple of years, many young polish designers had become really popular. Perhaps that influence might come south?
March 1st, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I think Kyiv fashion is a breath of fresh air. While a lot of the clothes are terribly tacky and gaudy, it’s so nice to see women (not all, but a large proportion) making the effort and showing off their figures in the brightest colours. It makes people-watching sessions a lot more interesting than it is in London or Paris for example where it’s a little monotonous seeing people constantly dressed in black, baggy (London) clothes. (I speak as a deeply unfashionable English woman who preferrs Gap to D&G!).
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Yes, people-watching is fun here in some ways. While London folk generally benefits from looking trendy, Kyiv street wear would benefit from some Gap simplicity. This way one flashy, but maybe nice and fun piece would not be “outscreamed” by others.
August 1st, 2007 at 9:29 pm
sigh, sad to report, but the High Design Group stores are going out of business (saw one having a close-out sale at Bolshevyk shopping center the other day).
November 5th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Ukrainian fashion is modern and very elegant I think, but what did the college designers from Tokyo is stunning. Crazy and hard thing to do: a dress made full of gold austrian coins.
http://www.worldwidehints.com/Tokyo+Gold+Coin+Dress.html
March 6th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I like Ukrainian fashion very much…it is a shame we don’t hear of it more.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:51 am
Ukrainian designers do not have be just like their western colleagues, but find their own vision, create recognizable Ukrainian style. Dig deep into traditions…
http://www.yzfashionstudio.com
May 18th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Vira, totally true, following outside trends looks bad. I like the design on teh shirts you’ve got in the attached link.