In Paris, Ukraine designer evokes life at home
PARIS >> Balmain's pearls and crystals dazzled Paris Fashion Week Wednesday in its stylish ode to the `80's. Meanwhile, geopolitical activism met tuxedo jackets when one vocal Ukrainian designer put on a show paying homage to her country and team of over 20 people currently working in Kyiv.
Here are some highlights of Wednesday's fall-winter 2023-2024 ready-to-wear collections:
Ukraine's Litkovska goes “on air”
“From the war zone with peace,” read the ticker outside Paris' Grand Rex cinema, a model of New York's Radio City Music Hall.
Inside, guests gathered in the Art Deco auditorium for a show by Ukrainian designer Lila Litkovska that continued with a radio theme.
Titled “On air,” it was a metaphor for the unpredictable way life in Ukraine is unfolding by the minute. The soundtrack of the ready-to-wear show flicked between radio stations, in constant interruption. Litkovska's collection reflected this sense of haphazardness by mixing up styles in a generally loose and oversized display.
There were the more commercial looks, such as a black tuxedo coat worn over a floppy black slit skirt and sneakers, alongside more abstract plays in shape, like a black coat wrapped on the midriff with long sleeves to create an intentionally offkilter silhouette.
Simple menswear suits were the nicest in what was ultimately a low-key show, with long sashes from the silken undergarments fluttering elegantly behind like a train.
But it was not just about fashion. A video link beside the runway showed a live shot of Litkovska's team in Ukraine's capital.
Ukraine's fashion activism
Litkovska fled to Paris
A model wears a creation as part of the Lilia Litkovska Fall/ Winter 2023-2024ready-to-wear collection presented on Wednesday in Paris.
with her 2-year-old daughter when Russian missiles started pounding Kyiv in February 2022. But the bright-eyed and optimistic designer, who launched her
eponymous brand 14 years ago and shows at Paris Fashion Week, pressed on creating her “made in Ukraine” designs by relocating studios to a safer location within the country.
“In the first week of the Russian invasion, we relocated to Lviv in the west of Ukraine. But we came back (to Kyiv) at the beginning of summer with our productions and with everyone there,” she told The Associated Press.
Litkovska said that now “it's the same factory the same office, the same team,” as before the war and she has even “extended (the size of) our team during the first year of the war because our orders are up.”
By organizing activist fashion events with other Ukrainian designers over the last year, including pop ups in Paris, Berlin, Munich and Milan, she has raised about 50,000 euros ($53,000) that has gone toward buying medicine, as well as to supporting Kyiv's biggest children's hospital and the armed forces. She asked for 30% of profits to go to Ukraine.
“It's an amazing process,” she said, describing how one of her initiatives involved selling little angels.
The fashion community is key to raising awareness — and money — for the war effort as it “has a big following, millions and millions, and they can attract their audience for what's going on,” Litkovska said.