Ukrainian designers Kseniaschnaider, Paskal and Frolov delved into their creativity and talent, despite the ongoing Russian war back home. With the support of Ukrainian Fashion Week and the British Fashion Council, the three presented their fall 2023 collections during London Fashion Week with a joint show.
The finale had the trio walking down the runway bearing the Ukrainian Flag with the United24 logo, a fundraising platform launched by Ukrainian President Zelensky to help boost global support for Ukraine.
Kseniaschnaider was founded in 2011 by couple Ksenia and Anton Schnaider and is based in Kyiv. Their fall collection, made of sustainable and deadstock materials, was created as an escape from the reality of war and all the tragedies it entails.
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“I just wanted to make a very uplifting, beautiful and full-of-joy collection,” said Schnaider.
A finalist in the inaugural LVMH Prize, Julia Paskal founded her label in 2013. After three years of no physical shows, Paskal’s collection had butterflies as protagonists. The insect was used as a symbol of the beauty and fragility of life.
The designer interpreted this metaphor by noting how “you should live in the moment because life is so short.” Paskal also expressed her gratitude to the fashion communities that made her show possible and for giving her a chance “to move forward” and to protect her brand from closure.
Third to show was Ivan Frolov, who launched his brand in 2015 in the Ukrainian capital. Frolov’s fall collection was titled “Song After Song” and was inspired by different Ukrainian ‘90s folk songs.
“In the Ukrainian mentality, there are songs everywhere. When people come to lose the world, when people die, when people have weddings. Songs build us Ukrainians,” said Frolov.
He explained that for his designs, he interlaced those songs with sexuality, which he associated with the brand’s logo — the human heart.
Paskal summed up the message of the trio’s show in one sentence: “Life is the most precious thing.”