The show must go on: Fashion week to return to Kyiv for the first time since 2022

By Leah Dolan, CNN

(CNN) — The organizers of Ukrainian Fashion Week have announced the event’s 55th season in September will take place in Kyiv — the first time since Russia invaded the country on February 24, 2022.

Around 50 brands are scheduled to show via a variety of mediums, from traditional runway shows to installations, presentations and performances. Most events will take place at the Mystetskyi Arsenal — Ukraine’s National Art and Culture Museum Complex — while a parade of designers and models will walk through the city in “a symbolic demonstration of unity,” according to a press release.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of neighboring country Ukraine almost three years ago, more than 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died. With Russian forces suffering even bigger losses (earlier this month, the UK Defense Ministry said more than 70,000 soldiers were likely killed or wounded in May and June 2024 alone), authorities in Moscow are offering record signing-on bonuses of around $22,000 to attract new recruits to fight in the conflict.

“We still have war in the whole country, and we feel the war in the whole country,” Lisa Ushcheka, head of international communications for Ukrainian Fashion Week, told CNN in a video call. “Because of the missile attacks, the blackouts and power outages. There are regions that (have) extremely hard shelling, regions that are suffering. We are used to it, and we have to live in this war reality. It is our new reality.”

Protective measures will be in place for all eventualities. The Mystetskyi Arsenal, for example, where most shows will take place, is equipped with bomb shelters. “Once we hear the air raid siren, all guests will be asked to proceed to the bomb shelter,” Ushcheka said.

A spokesperson for the public relations team working on the event said that despite this, “local media, industry talent and influencers” are expected to attend. The international fashion pack, however, may find it more challenging, with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office still advising against all travel to most of Ukraine, including Kyiv; and the US Department of State listing the country as a “Level 4” — the highest on its travel advisory scale — warning citizens not to visit due to armed conflict.

Organizers have been discussing the possibility of returning to Kyiv for the last six months, said Ushcheka, who hopes the conflict doesn’t escalate. “If the war intensifies,” she told CNN, “and something unexpected happens, because each day the situation changes, of course in the worst case scenario we can cancel.” Ivan Frolov, a Kyiv-born fashion designer scheduled to exhibit in September’s showcase, added that the Ukrainian spirit has become evermore adaptable in the face of adversity. “Since the war started, we don’t only have a plan B, but a plan C, G, even Z.”

“But life doesn’t stop,” said Ushcheka.

It will be the first time Ukrainian designers will have shown their collections on home soil since the war began. For the past three seasons, Berlin, London and Copenhagen have offered up runways at their respective fashion weeks specifically for Ukrainian designers who fled the country. In February 2023, Frolov presented his Fall-Winter 2023 collection in a group show alongside labels Ksenia Schnaider and Paskal in London. “We were so appreciative of that possibility,” he said over Zoom. “For me, that show was not just about reaching a hand out and saying, ‘Please help us. We need your help.’ That was about us saying ‘We are very strong. We are very talented. We are the same as you. We are here.’”

Each participating brand has agreed to make a donation in support of a new palliative care unit in the city, monies that will be used to buy specific medical equipment to help those with severe and incurable injuries. Guests will also have the opportunity to donate throughout the event. “We hope that it will be inspirational for the whole world,” said Ushcheka. “Because it’s a historical event, a fashion week taking place in a country where there is a war going on.”

For Frolov, the prospect of staging a return show in Kyiv is emotionally overwhelming. “I’m happy my sunglasses are black,” he said, from behind a pair of dark glasses. “Because my eyes are wet right now. I love Kyiv very much. I was born in Kyiv and Kyiv is everything to me. With the support of the Minister of Culture and the Minister of Economy I’m able to travel and visit other countries, but I can’t leave the country for more than one month, because I feel sick without Kyiv. I feel empty without Kyiv. It’s my motherland, it’s my soul.”

“This September, I want to reinstall Kyiv as one of the main cities of fashion in the world.”

The-CNN-Wire
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