Ukraine Fashion heads to Paris Fashion Week showcasing their collections on October 1st to the 6th, with six of the country’s most affluent fashion designers. For its third season after two past events held in NYC, the collective led by Jen Sidary Founder & CEO of ANGELFORFASHION.com which houses 35 of the country’s best Ukrainian fashion brands will present six of Ukraine’s modern designs that highlight international creativity. These recognizable Ukrainian fashion designers are proving that Kyiv is fighting on multiple fronts, already beginning the recovery effort, and increasing their global recognition across the creative industry as the war on their country continues.
CHERESHNIVSKA | MY SLEEPING GYPSY | FROLOV
Copyright Courtesy Kiko Gaspar Communications
IT SEEMS NOTHING CAN STOP THE UKRAINIAN SPIRIT!
During last season’s edition Ukraine Fashion event opened just two days before the Russian invasion on February 24th. The war on Ukraine has led to a humanitarian crisis in Europe nonetheless all the designers felt the duty to continue sketching, sewing, and designing. The WAR RECOVERY EFFORTS took another level of courage to continue supporting the country’s economy by employing their staff especially to this predominately women’s industry as the men fights on the front lines even as their cities, and country comes under attack. Many have repurposed their operations to help the war effort, relocated within Ukraine.
“In my thirty years of working in the fashion industry I have never witnessed the resilience of a country and its people as they began to focus on keeping their businesses alive, days into the war from bomb shelters to designing new collections amidst constant air raid sirens,” – Jen Sidary.
This war effort has made many travels back and forth between Ukraine and neighbouring countries, by land as there are currently no flights in or out of Ukraine. These fashion designers are relentless, making sure their lines don’t cease so they can continue to pay their employees and be part of this project; male designers, between 18 and 60 years old, had to grant a special authorization to travel abroad. This is not a charity event but a project that supports the country’s creative industry allowing buyers from around the globe to add Ukrainian designs to their retail stores brand matrix.
“Ukrainian businesses have demonstrated remarkable resilience, commitment and awareness since Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Disruptions on the domestic market caused by decrease in demand by population and broken supply chains, are pushing companies to explore export opportunities to diversify their sales. USAID, through its Competitive Economy Program, encourages firms to start export operations and to enter new foreign markets,” says Natalia Petrova, USAID Project Manager of the Economic Growth Office.
OLIZ | LITKOVSKA | KACHOROVSKA
Copyright Courtesy Kiko Gaspar Communications
UKRAINE FASHION SS’23 – PARIS FASHION WEEK
The Good Six Showroom, located within the coveted 8th Arrondissement in Paris at 6 Rue Jean Goujon, will serve as the host to Ukrainian Fashion during its week-long stint. All six designer brands will be presented to interested buyers, stylists, celebrities, and editors. At its core, Ukraine Fashion guides designers with their expansion to foreign markets for the world to see and explore its immense talent. This project aims to put a face to Ukraine’s most prominent designers and begin the recovery effort even while the war continues in the country.
This season’s returning designers are FROLOV, KACHOROVSKA, and CHERESHNIVSKA who is this season’s lead grantee for the project. New to the event is LITKOVSKA, MY SLEEPING GYPSY and OLIZ. The brands will present their interpretation of women’s and unisex apparel, footwear, and scarves.
Ukraine Fashion in Paris is led by Jen Sidary, a Global Fashion Brand Strategist, whose career has spanned three decades. Thirty days after the war on Ukraine Jen launched an online platform to help the Ukrainian fashion industry survive called ANGELFORFASHION.com which houses 35 of the most prominent fashion brands. Jen was the Head of Zappos Couture at Zappos.com and went on to become the President of Sales for Vivienne Westwood America. This collaboration has been made possible with the continued support of the USAID Competitive Economy Program. “The Ukrainian fashion industry is immensely talented and there is no better time to support this creative industry as one of the ways to win this war is to continue helping their economy grow and expand,” Sidary said.
The project is designed to showcase remarkable diversity in the styles that Ukrainian fashion brands have to offer. The designers utilize the highest quality materials produced by the finest artisans, leading the industry in their craft. All the brands all embrace the importance of sustainable fashion techniques and highlight Ukraine’s creativity while applying these values to their work.
OCTOBER 1 – 6, 2022
THE GOOD SIX SHOWROOM
6 RUE JEAN GOUJON PARIS, FRANCE 75008
BOILER PLATE
CHERESHNIVSKA CHERESHNIVSKA is a Ukraine-based unisex brand founded in 2016. We are focusing on innovations and sustainability. By 2024 50% of production will be made from recycled items. All our designs are available in very limited quantities. We believe that design combined with artistic value and sustainable practice will always matter. Most feature the unique hand-drawn prints by our creative director Anastasiya Rozava. Every collection is driven by a strong core idea, yet still open for interpretation. We try to reflect the modern world and show it through designs and prints.
FROLOV is a couture-to-wear brand that combines flawlessness and comfort, intelligence and provocation, social responsibility, and serenity. It originates at the heart of Kyiv, where it was founded back in 2015 by Ivan Frolov – a designer and now the creative director of the brand. Freedom and provocation were the brands drivers since its first collection. Through clothes, FROLOV explores and communicates messages the brand feels important to raise. It’s about transsexuals’ culture, BDSM ethics, aesthetics, fetishism, LGBTQ+ movement.
KACHOROVSKA is a Ukrainian fashion shoe brand, that has mastered the design, craftsmanship, and manufacturing of shoes since 1957 by now 3rd generation of a family of shoemakers. The brand is the key local industry player and the leader of the category, currently working on its global expansion strategy. It also has been one of the defining forces in developing the taste in style and quality of lifestyle of the new generations of independent Ukraine. This is our specialty — we know shoes, we love shoes, and we speak shoes — the undeniable language of all shoe lovers around the world!
Litkovska is coming from a family of four generations of tailors. Lilia Litkovska has always seen it as her mission to preserve this profession and the crafts surrounding it. With her name-sake brand she unveils the way traditions could be integrated in a modern context and is committed to working in an ethical and sustainable way. Known for her taste for bold shapes, refined tailoring and intricate craftsmanship Lilia Litkovska explores the idea of contemporary dressing through sleek yet quirky silhouettes and edgy yet fluid designs. The brand philosophy is “There is no wrong side”.
My Sleeping Gypsy is a fully sustainable brand from Ukraine. For the last six years we have been building and operating a fully vertically integrated brand in Kyiv, Ukraine. My Sleeping Gypsy speaks an authentic voice, preserving the heritage craft of the Vyshavanka which is eponymously linked to Ukraine’s heritage. In collaboration with artists, we create wearable objects of art, which go beyond fashion, by having a cultural value and being fully sustainable.
Oliz is a brand of silk accessories founded in Kyiv in 2014. The idea of reviving the production of scarves in Ukraine grew out of a collection of vintage scarves which was inherited by the founder of the brand from her grandmother. The styles are 100% Ukrainian full-cycle production and based on the traditions and culture of its country. The exclusive patterns are made with Ukrainian artists, and it takes several months to develop and draw the hand-made sketches for the prints. All patterns are unique and protected by copyrights. Oliz uses only natural Italian fabrics and environmentally friendly dyes, and a team of designers carefully elaborates the color palette of every collection.
USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine (USAID CEP) supports business startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to become more competitive in domestic and international markets, fosters a simplified and more transparent business enabling environment, as well as enables Ukrainian companies to benefit from free trade.
