Between September 1 and 4, Kyiv Fashion Week was held for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In one of the week’s shows, Ukrainian war veterans took to the catwalk to show off the latest fashions. Several of them did, with prosthetics.
Ukrainian Fashion Week made a comeback this week in Kiev after a three-year hiatus. The fashion week, which spanned four days, had a clear war theme and several creators used the war in one way or another as a background in their shows.
AP writes that the fashion week’s comeback took place with emphasis and refers above all to the show that was the headline on Tuesday. Fashion designers Andreas Moskin and Andriy Bilous used Ukrainian war veterans as models. Many of these walked the catwalk with prosthetics.
Coincided with the attack on Poltava
While the show was going on in Kiev, news broke that around fifty people had died and several were injured when a military training facility and a nearby hospital were bombed in Poltava.
– We want to show that Ukrainian fashion adapts to society, and to people with amputations who survived the war, Andriy Bilous tells AP.
– We show that people are indestructible – that even those without limbs can be fashionable. They must be loved and respected like anyone else, he adds.
Kyiv Fashion Week meant that Bilous and Moskin were able to showcase their creations in their home country for the first time in three years. Meanwhile, many Ukrainian designers have been invited to other European fashion weeks, including Berlin, London and Vienna.
“Wants Ukraine’s voice to be heard in the world”
Iryna Danylevska, founder and CEO of Kyiv Fashion Week, says AP that the event was to highlight the local fashion industry and remind the world of the humanitarian consequences of war.
– We want Ukraine’s voice to be constantly heard in the world. This sends a message that Ukraine is a country full of talented people, whose lives are being destroyed just because they want to be Ukrainian. Shouldn’t the world want to help?, asks Iryna.