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‘I need to save my culture’: Ukrainian fashion designers put on defiant show at London Fashion Week

  • Fashion designers send message of defiance down the catwalk, with one featuring clothes made of neckties Ukrainian men don’t need now they’re in army fatigues
  • The ‘fragility of life’ inspires Julie Paskal’s appliqué ‘butterfly’ dresses, while Ivan Frolov’s knitwear features the Ukrainian wheat ear fertility symbol

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A model presents a creation by Ukrainian designer Ivan Frolov during the Ukraine Fashion Week show at London Fashion Week, featuring three labels from the war-torn eastern European country. Photo: Reuters

Ukrainian designers sent out a defiant message at London Fashion Week with clothes made from the neckties their menfolk no longer wear and butterfly motifs to symbolise the “fragility of life”.

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The three collections, by fashion labels Kseniaschnaider, Paskal and Frolov, were put together in Ukraine despite constant interruptions from missile attacks and air raid sirens.

“I think it’s really important not to stop,” said Ksenia Schnaider, one half of the husband-and-wife team behind the Kseniaschnaider label.

The designer has been travelling back and forth from Ukraine and her new base in the UK, where her daughter is at school, since taking the decision to carry on with fashion despite the war.

Ukrainian fashion designers Ksenia Schnaider, Ivan Frolov and Julie Paskal pose backstage with a Ukraine flag ahead of the Ukraine Fashion Week show during which they presented their labels’ designs at London Fashion Week in Britain. Photo: Reuters
Ukrainian fashion designers Ksenia Schnaider, Ivan Frolov and Julie Paskal pose backstage with a Ukraine flag ahead of the Ukraine Fashion Week show during which they presented their labels’ designs at London Fashion Week in Britain. Photo: Reuters

Schnaider feared she might “never be able to create again” after being forced to leave Kyiv last March.

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