Far from home, Ukrainian designers showcase
fashion that was created amid air raid sirens
London, Sep 19: For Ksenia Schnaider and her fellow Ukrainian fashion designers, the show must go on despite the war in their country – or precisely because of it.
For much of the past year, Schnaider and her team of seamstresses toiled away in their Kyiv studio, crafting her new collection of designer denim and luxury daywear even as air raid sirens, drone attacks and power cuts took over their lives and made production almost impossible to continue.
Schnaider, 39, fled Ukraine with her husband and young daughter when Russia invaded her country in 2022. They found a temporary home with a British family in a peaceful corner of southern England. But she hasn’t put down the fashion business she founded 12 years ago, dividing her time between the U.K. and Kyiv, where all her garments are still being made against the odds. “My team needs this sense of normality – they told me they want to go to work and have something to do, to support each other, rather than staying home hiding,” she added. “We want to show the world we don’t give up.” On Tuesday she and two other Ukrainian fashion designers showcased their latest creations in a joint catwalk show at London Fashion Week, which is adopting Ukraine Fashion Week for the second time this year as the war drags on and Ukraine’s fashion industry has nowhere to call home.
At the finale, they took their bows wearing a Ukrainian flag signed by three different military units. Some of those soldiers have died since signing the flags, she said.
It’s a poignant moment that the designer both looked forward to and dreaded because it’s so emotionally overwhelming. “It’s very hard … but of course, it is important to show our unity. We’re not competitors anymore, we’re all united in working for our victory,” she said.
Since the start of the war, more than 60 Ukrainian fashion brands have showcased their wares in cities including London and New York to “create, in contrast to the destruction brought by Russian aggression,” according to Iryna Danylevska, the founder and head of Ukrainian Fashion Week.
“Ukraine continues to live. Ukraine breathes, fights and creates,” reads a note found on every seat at Tuesday’s catwalk display. “Our London Fashion Week runway show is another chance to speak to the world about the value of freedom and the price that must be paid for it.” Schnaider, who has dressed celebrities including Dua Lipa, wonders how they keep going. “But for me, it’s important to keep producing in Ukraine, to support its people, its economy.” The catwalk may seem a million miles from the battlefield, but fashion is just one of many facets of a huge national effort to keep the world talking about Ukraine and raise funds and awareness for what its people are going through. (AP)
