UKRAINE IN PARIS: FASHION EXPERTS SECOND CHANCE TO GET CLOSER LOOK OF THE UKRAINIAN SPIRIT AND ITS DESIGNERS’ TALENT

THIS WILL BE A TIME TO BE GRIPPED BY THE UKRAINIAN DESIGNERS THAT WILL KICK OFF PARIS FASHION WEEK WITH FLAIR AND RESPONSIBLE FASHION VALUES

Seven Ukrainian designers will showcase their Autumn Winter 2023 collections at Paris Fashion Week from March 3rd to the 7th in the famous first arrondissement located at 7 Rue d’Argenteuil.

This season designers will present their collections, the most ever showcased at one time, with the support of USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine.

All the brands have the same goal which is to increase their global visibility and maximise sales to foreign markets, proving that despite the war in their country they have much to offer to the fashion world.

It will become an inspiring voyage for Ukrainian fashion brands. After the most challenging year in these designers lives and stories surfacing daily of their struggling journeys from 2022 these strong Ukrainian entrepreneurs find themselves still fighting to keep their businesses alive.

They continue to create handmade collections under constant air raid sirens, move ateliers to bomb shelters, factories having to shift production to produce clothing items for Ukraine’s military, or construct under recurring blackouts.

The seven designers in this season’s project aim to lead Ukrainian’s fashion industry scene in France that will include showcasing of demi-Couture, ready-to-wear, and footwear creations that will target a wide range of women to their collections.

With love and sustainability, Ukraine – against all the odds – makes its second journey to Paris Fashion Week with a week-long showroom to introduce its latest manifesto to all the fashion industry professionals.

Recurrent this season will include FROLOV a couture-to-wear brand that combines flawlessness and comfort, intelligence and provocation, social responsibility and serenity who is recently known for the Firework minidress designed especially for Beyoncé and written about in many of the top media outlets around the globe.

Kachorovska, the largest Ukrainian footwear success that ensures any woman will stand out and be desired in all her styles, with reverence and quality. My Sleeping Gypsy, a completely sustainable brand loved by all whose aim is to create wearable objects of art and embrace Ukrainian traditional roots, which go beyond fashion with a strong cultural value.

Plus, last season’s grantee Chereshnivska a Ukraine-based unisex and completely sustainable brand that features unique hand-drawn prints utilising recycled materials which makes this season quite a stunning reference to all the talent lying in the capital city of Kyiv.

The other three designers, certainly not to be missed, are Katerina Kvit whose collection is fit for any stylist’s mood board and editorial wish list, always with a minimalistic approach to design using luxury materials as well tailoring standards to create sophisticated silhouettes.

Paskal, an extremely playful fashion brand, who can master shapes, lines, and structure, which singled out their collections creating a strong brand DNA which her clients live for.

Olena Dats’ another Prêt-à-Porter de Lux, distinguished by the most complex techniques of processing and decoration, launched Augmented Reality clothing in her studio during the war.

The other three designers, certainly not to be missed, are Katerina Kvit whose collection is fit for any stylist’s mood board and editorial wish list, always with a minimalistic approach to design using luxury materials as well tailoring standards to create sophisticated silhouettes.

Paskal, an extremely playful fashion brand, who can master shapes, lines, and structure, which singled out their collections creating a strong brand DNA which her clients live for.

Olena Dats’ another Prêt-à-Porter de Lux, distinguished by the most complex techniques of processing and decoration, launched Augmented Reality clothing in her studio during the war.

The project is again curated by Jen Sidary. Sidary has been working with Ukraine’s fashion industry since 2020, before the war, and implemented the idea to showcase the talented country’s fashion industry at fashion weeks for the first time in September 2021. Ms. Sidary also launched a global ecommerce website ANGELFORFASHION.com built for Ukrainian designers in April 2022 supporting the thirty plus brands to ensure they survive the unjust war on their country.

“I have huge respect for all the people of Ukraine and for how they are adapting their lives to survive and continue to grow. I have discovered a hidden gem which is where much of the world’s history began but many of us just didn’t know it. Ukraine’s fashion industry is one I want to work with for the rest of my career,” Jen Sidary says.

While fashion may seem like a frivolous distraction in the face of such a terrifying situation for the people of Ukraine, there are many talented brands we could all support and show our solidarity for the country and its people.

This is the fifth time USAID Competitive Economy Program, has supported this project and its second season in Paris. This year USAID CEP in Ukraine provided opportunities to the Ukrainian fashion brands to showcase their collections within Paris Fashion week with the grant to the West Ukrainian Fashion Industry Cluster. Since its inception USAID Competitive Economy Program has been providing extensive support to the apparel industry in Ukraine as it was showing considerable growth and creating new jobs before 2022 and has proved its remarkable resilience after the start of the full-scale war.

Olesya Zaluska, USAID CEP Chief of Party says, “Ukrainian fashion businesses have a huge potential to win the hearts and minds of those who appreciate quality and design. The brands realise that all eyes are on Ukraine now and proudly represent the country. USAID CEP supports Ukrainian fashion businesses and apparel companies who along with other industries contribute to the nascent recovery of the economy.”

UKRAINIAN FASHION DESIGNERS SHOWROOM

March 3 – 7, 2023

7 rue d’Argenteuil

75001 Paris

Appointments Request:

Jen Sidary | +1 913 219 4658 | jen@angelforfashion.com

ANGELFORFASHION.COM, the e-Commerce website representing an unprecedented alliance of the most prominent Ukrainian fashion designers with 33 brands and over 1,600 styles, went live in early April 2022.

American based and nurtured by the creative spirit of Ukraine, it is here to showcase their talent to a global audience and new styles are added weekly.

The online platform achieved instant success receiving multiple sales in every product category and visitors from over 175 countries around the world. ANGEL FOR FASHION has orders from 85% of its brands and over 50,000 unique visitors from around the globe.

“When shopping on ANGELFORFASHION.COM once customers place orders, they are then contacted by the brand directly for shipping information and so the “Angels” as we call them can make a personal emotional connection with the brands. 

The kind words and support the brands are receiving from customer emails about the war on Ukraine will soon be shared on the website’s platform. The brands tell me it’s incredible to hear from customers around the globe that the world stands with Ukraine.” — Jen Sidary, Founder and CEO at ANGEL FOR FASHION.

For more information or to schedule an interview please contact:

KIKO GASPAR COMMUNICATIONS

Kiko Gaspar

Tel & WhatsApp: +351 91 054 91 78

kikosgaspar@gmail.com

THE BRANDS

CHERESHNIVSKA is a Ukraine-based unisex brand founded in Jahr 2016. We are focusing on innovations and sustainability. By 2024 50% of production will be made from recycled items.

All our designs are available in very limited quantities. We believe that design combined with artistic value and sustainable practice will always matter.

Most feature the unique hand-drawn prints by our creative director Anastasiya Rozava. Every collection is driven by a strong core idea, yet still open for interpretation. We try to reflect the modern world and show it through designs and prints.

FROLOV is a couture-to-wear brand that combines flawlessness and comfort, intelligence and provocation, social responsibility, and serenity. It originates at the heart of Kyiv, where it was founded back in 2015 by Ivan Frolov – a designer and now the creative director of the brand. 

Freedom and provocation were the brands drivers since its first collection.  Through clothes, FROLOV explores and communicates messages the brand feels important to raise. It’s about transsexuals’ culture, BDSM ethics, aesthetics, fetishism, LGBTQ+ movement.

KACHOROVSKA is a Ukrainian fashion shoe brand, that has mastered the design, craftsmanship, and manufacturing of shoes since 1957 by now 3rd generation of a family of shoemakers.

The brand is the key local industry player and the leader of the category, currently working on its global expansion strategy.

It also has been one of the defining forces in developing the taste in style and quality of lifestyle of the new generations of independent Ukraine. This is our specialty — we know shoes, we love shoes, and we speak shoes — the undeniable language of all shoe lovers around the world!

KATERINA KVIT is a Ukrainian label making leather a second skin. The brand’s team combines a minimalist approach to design with luxury materials and tailoring standards to create timeless designs to live in.

While staying true to its sophisticated silhouettes, the result of the brand’s creative director Katerina Kvit work is always about experiments – ultra tailored pieces with unexpected cuts and details are the brand’s signature investment pieces.

Creating essentials for women of excellence, we add a touch of sexiness to practical and utilitarian clothes, but in our own recognizable manner.

MY SLEEPING GYPSY is a fully sustainable brand from Ukraine.  For the last six years we have been building and operating a fully vertically integrated brand in Kyiv, Ukraine.

  My Sleeping Gypsy speaks an authentic voice, preserving the heritage craft of the Vyshavanka which is eponymously linked to Ukraine’s heritage.  In collaboration with artists, we create wearable objects of art, which go beyond fashion, by having a cultural value and being fully sustainable. 

OLENA DATS’ is a Ukrainian fashion brand working in the field of Prêt-à-Porter de Lux. The brand Olena Dats’ clothes are distinguished by the most complex techniques of processing and decoration, so the designer has rightfully earned her recognition as a virtuoso of evening dresses.

PASKAL is a Ukrainian high fashion and ready-to-wear brand that was founded by architecture graduate, designer Julie Paskal in 2013.

Architecture education gave Julie a notion of work with shapes, lines, and structure, which singled out her collections and finally created a strong DNA, with distinctive features, such as laser-cut technique, and precision tailoring. The brand is known for its minimalist, exacting aesthetic which owes much to the rigors and precision of innovative architecture and modern cultural processes.

USAID COMPETITIVE ECONOMY PROGRAM in Ukraine (USAID CEP) supports business start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to become more competitive in domestic and international markets, fosters a simplified and more transparent business enabling environment, as well as enables Ukrainian companies to benefit from free trade.