English Summary

Common Points

Theatre director Vlad Troitsky and writer Sofia Andrukhovych compare their outlooks on life and search for common points in the Ukrainian heritage.

Vlad Troitsky: Your latest novel is a story about memory loss. What is memory? I have a feeling that we have forgotten everything about the 30 years of our independence, not to mention the good and not so good old times. I remember the wild 1990’s and the first years of the new millennium – it’s as if everything has been washed down the drain. Do you have any recipes of how to live in this world of short memory? Sofia Andrukhovych: The subject of memory is of great interest to me. It is the centre of my novel “Amadoca”, and all the other plot lines revolve around it. What we both do is searching for ways to live this life in different variants and to find its important aspects. You are talking about the memory that relates to our recent events, the independence of Ukraine – they are, of course, very important. And, as for me, just because of what is happening to us today, there is a need and an opportunity to restore our earlier memories. To return to the injuries associated with World War II and other important issues that were either forbidden, or too painful to talk about. It’s very much superimposed on the war that is happening now and on what we all have been going through right at this moment. In “Amadoca”, I have a contemporary plot line: the main character returning from the war, losing his memory and his face. He doesn’t remember his history, where he comes from, who he is. And there is a woman who tries to bring his memory back, and when she retells his memoirs, they relate to the memory of the family: World War II, the Holocaust, the relationship between Ukrainians and Jewish people in Western Ukraine…

Architect of His Own Reality

Lviv-based architect and musician Ihor Tsymbrovsky famous for his 1996 experimental music album “Come, Angel”, plays his first concert in Kyiv in two decades.

I was 12 years old when Czesław Niemen performed a gig in the Green Theatre in Lviv. My dad and I were walking in the park, and I really wanted to go to the concert. There were no tickets on sale, and we couldn’t afford ticket reseller’s price. Yet I wanted to attend the show anyway. I failed to climb the fence of the Green Theatre, so my dad was waiting for me for about half an hour while I listened to the concert from behind the fence. That was my first introduction to rock music. I lived surrounded by classical rock music, because those were the times of hippies. I listened to the same music as them, but due to my young age I didn’t really understand what was going on. In the fifth or sixth grade, I joined a music school and I started singing in the Dudaryk choir. One time, I heard one of the pupils performing “The House of The Rising Sun”, and I thought, “It’s really cool! I should try it myself”. The head of our choir Mykola Katsal was an extraordinary person. He, unlike others, was allowed to teach “informal” repertoire to pupils. And we started playing those tunes on the guitar. In light of this, I had no luck playing the guitar, but this story had a great impact on me. I was invited to participate in the Chervona Ruta’1989 festival. Being a rock musician, I was supposed to perform on the rock stage, but I was put on the bard stage, as there wasn’t a piano on mine. I didn’t agree and I went to the festival director. I had to call the music school and arrange for me to be given at least some instrument for my performance. Eventually, they placed a piano on the rock stage. I was hoping to perform at night, in the light of the scoops, but the organisers decided differently, so I played in the afternoon. After my short performance, I was told “Thank you, you can go”. After such a remark, I realised I still had a long way to go...

Technological Authenticity

A graduate of three universities, Svitlana Drahayeva has been managing a successful start-up in the field of medical VR and is a proud Ukrainian.

“At 22 years old, I was studying for two master’s degrees – in cultural studies and political science. But whilst I was studying as a political scientist, I realised that I missed linguistics very much; so I decided to undertake another master’s degree, in Poland, in cognitive linguistics. I was therefore studying for three master’s degrees at the same time, travelling by train each week. I studied in Germany for three days, and then I studied cognitive linguists in Poland for two days. I literally lived on a train. But I didn’t think that was hard”. These words have been said by a charming blond girl in such a relaxed and easy way, that at first you think the conversation is not about the new technologies and medical VR, but about the latest trends in fashion. Svitlana Drahayeva is very young, yet she has already received a BAFTA award for developments in the field of virtual reality. Her start-up Virry VR has been registered as a medical device in UK, so the NHS can now easily prescribe the innovative programme to their patients. Virry VR can be downloaded on to your virtual reality headset to help you reduce stress and anxiety from home...

In presto tempo

Sharing her life between Germany where she works and Ukraine where she belongs, the acclaimed conductor Oksana Lyniv reveals how to make the young generation love music.

“When I got to Europe, I was amazed that even high school students there could gain professional experience in an orchestra, get acquainted with potential colleagues, participate in international projects. I compared this to my student years and wanted to create something similar in Ukraine to help future musicians develop...

In 2017, I succeeded: young people from all over the country entered the Youth Symphony Orchestra, and they were selected by a professional jury. And suddenly it became clear: everything that is said in our country about a different mentality and misunderstandings between the East and the West is a total lie. The children have become very good friends with one another, they communicate outside the projects, there have even been couples experiencing their first love as a result. We have a chatroom in which all of the kids participate, arranging meetups in different cities…” The age milestone in the orchestra is 23 years, but most of our graduates are already students of various international academies. I try to be an example of dedication for children and show that when we make the right efforts and continue to be active, fate begins to give all chances…”

Cultivated Opportunities

Anton Eremenko researches how advances in technology at the Alkor-D enterprise contribute to the development of jewellery art in Ukraine.

“I remember seeing a golden pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla in the history textbook. It was a true masterpiece of Hellenic and Scythian arts: an incredible, beautiful, and subtle moon-shaped work with an interesting story. According to scientists, it was created by Greek masters commissioned by the Scythian king. Since then, jewellery and technology have changed so much that now precious stones can be grown in laboratory conditions without any loss in quality. The history of jewellery that has been made in Ukraine is very interesting, but it is much more interesting to look into the future and understand how modern methods of its production work. I know it’s hard to believe, yet there is a factory for growing diamonds in Ukraine. It’s called Alkor-D; the enterprise has been operating since 2015, and it creates real masterpieces…”

Fashion. House. Khreshchatyk

This year, Khreshchatyk fashion house would have marked its 60th anniversary, proving the fact that ready-made garments production existed in Ukraine long before catwalk shows and modelling agencies.

The legendary fashion house started out back in 1961 as the Republican House of Knitwear Models “Khreschatyk”. During almost 43 years of its existence, it has presented up to 1200 new designs each year, offering interesting jobs for both couturiers and models. As travelling abroad was quite problematic in the USSR, the fashion house provided such opportunities for the young designers and models. When the Ukrainian Fashion Week began operating, the fashion house was also among its participants. So when some say there wasn’t any fashion in Ukraine until the late 1990s, the story of Khreshchatyk fashion house proves otherwise…

Austerity, Aesthetics and Aristocracy

We decided to share some thoughts of the prominent Ukrainian artist and costume designer Lyudmyla Semykina

“I am a dreamer, I have always been guided by the idea of renaissance, trying to touch Ukraine with all my essence. We had an idea of organising a club of creative youth. We were fantasists, dreamers. I had imagined the costumes I was famous for long before the independence of Ukraine. Why do people notice my art? Because it is intrinsically valuable and individual. If culture is not moving, if it doesn’t exist, and if people have forgotten all about it, then who needs me now? Folk art has its philosophy. Demonstrating vyshyvanka all over the world has turned it into a standard and dull item. I have nothing to do with fashion. Fashion serves the interests of anyone, either a silly man or a murderer. It’s merely business…”

Valuable Frames

Let’s find out what film costume designers actually do, and who of them created the most striking images in Ukrainian cinematography.

“There are no costume designers, decoration designers, makeup artists… You are either an artist, or you are not!” says Emma Behlyarova, a designer responsible for dressing actors in films by Roman Balayan, Ihor Minayev, and other famous Ukrainian directors. She has been working at the Dovzhenko Film Studios since 1980s, and she still has her workshop there. According to the designer, very often her work is not in examining fashion catalogues, but actually in digging up something unique in a lousy second-hand shop. This is because clothes items for filming often have to look used and worn, and not as if they have just arrived from a boutique. Behlyarova credits her success to the legendary costume designer Lidia Baikova, who dressed the actors of such legendary motion pictures as “Chasing Two Hares”. That’s what talent is all about: made out of cheap fabric, the lead characters costumes look stunning in the film!

Medical Students

Besides being stylish and beautiful, this fashion story is also of high importance for the development of medical education in Ukraine.

In 2019, over forty thousand foreign students entered Ukrainian medical universities and institutes. We street casted students of those establishments. By photographing them for our fashion editorial, we highlight the relevance of medical education in Ukraine.

Tsarivna

In popular culture, spring is undoubtedly associated with the image of a woman, a volatile princess who is able to awaken the earth and feelings.

Marie Claire performs its own spring folk song and combines traditions of Ukrainian life, collections from

the archives of the Ukrainian designers, and portrays our hopes for successful spring through these photographs.

Mystic Beauty of Hutsul Girls

Being of Ukrainian descent, photographer Yan Wasiuchnik visited the Carpathians for the first time and depicted the beauty of the local girls.

This fashion story is not an advertising project, for it recreates the natural beauty of the girls born amidst the Carpathian Mountains. Each of the pictured ladies were found by means of street casting, dressed in the Ukrainian traditional costume. Some of them even dream of getting married dressed in it, for the traditions and the mysticism of the Carpathians are in their blood.

Knowledge of Beauty

Will the only beauty establishment in Ukraine with internationally acknowledged scientific background continue to improve our appearance, or will it simply close down?

The Beauty Institute has been known to many Ukrainian ladies, as its history started over seventy years ago. However, the clinic existed without any serious equipment, or any specialists in the field of dermatology also trained in cosmetology almost till the 1980s. The situation changed when Inna Voloshchenko headed the Institute. A high-level doctor, she introduced a medical approach to beauty problems. That is, if you have acne, it makes sense to speak to an endocrinologist, a gastroenterologist, etc. Based on the approach, the establishment started producing creams and lotions containing extremely rare and efficient ingredients. Now, the Institute is one step away from closing down due to the plans of the new owner of the building where the clinic used to be located. The future of Ukrainian beauty science is in danger, and it is up to us to help the legendary Beauty Institute survive.

Ukrainian Indie Beauty Companies

We chose seven Ukrainian beauty brands that match quality standards, which have been reviewed positively by the customers, and are relatively affordable.

According to our expert, any product has three components: idea, formula and packaging. While we can produce high-quality ingredients based on scientifically developed formulae, the problem is that we are short of innovative marketing ideas to promote our goods. And our true Achilles’ heel is packaging. The one which we can produce is totally unattractive, while the one we can import from the EU and China is quite pricey. To make a long story short, let’s list the seven Ukrainian beauty brands in the alphabetical order and start pursuing them: DeLay, Free on Friday, Inro, Instytutum, Natureal, Piel Cosmetics and Zerno Bio.