This year’s New York Fashion Week will see nine designers showcased at “Ukrainian Fashion: Shaping Style. Empowering Change.” The event will run from Sept. 11-15, hosted by The Standard East Village.
The nine Ukrainian fashion brands include A.M.G., Gudu, Gunia Project, J’Amemme, Kachorovska, My Sleeping Gypsy, Omelia, Samokish and T.Mosca – with Gudu being the only returning name from Fashion Week 2022. There will be an opening private presentation the Sunday before the showcase, featuring models showing off the designers’ work for 75 guests – comprising a mix of buyers, press and celebrities.
The entrance of The Standard also currently displays a mural by Kyiv-based artist Vladimir Manzhos, better known as “Waone,” unveiled in August as a surreal and futuristic celebration of Ukrainian identity.
The presence of the nine brands has its roots in 2021, which saw a number of Ukrainian fashion consultants and brands first landing the trade show grants needed to break into Fashion Week.
Since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a number of these brands have been outspoken about supporting the country through its hard times.
“Any product produced and purchased in Ukraine is a direct support of the people, craftsmen and economy of Ukraine,” Gunia Project founders Natasha Kamenska and Maria Gavryliuk told Harper’s Bazaar last year. “”Ukrainian businesses are going through hard times, but they are fighting hard for their existence; the opportunity to save jobs and pay salaries to their employees; the opportunity to help Ukrainians and create products that will make their lives easier and fuller; the opportunity to help Ukraine’s economy.”
The widely-condemned invasion has tested the country’s resolve for the past year and a half. More than 8.2 million have fled the country since the beginning of the invasion, Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, and the environmental damage caused by the conflict has amplified food crises worldwide.
This June, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying its eastern territories, a move which has made slow and costly but significant progress. Ukraine is currently backed in military aid by a coalition of 54 countries, including all members of NATO and the European Union.
(Photo courtesy of Valentina Frugiuele)
