Profile | Beyoncé, Bella Hadid love his hats, so did Queen Elizabeth: meet Ukrainian milliner Ruslan Baginskiy, who is taking on the luxury houses

Ukrainian milliner Ruslan Baginskiy reflects on his hat brand’s roots in 2015, and turning a design worn by Bella Hadid and Kaia Gerber into a hot seller

Years ago, he wanted his label to ‘become the world’s number one headwear brand’. Despite the invasion of his country and its setbacks, he is well on his way

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Maria Mokhova

Published: 12:45pm, 5 Jul 2023Updated: 3:14pm, 5 Jul 2023

“My little dream is to become the world’s number one headwear brand,” Ruslan Baginskiy told me four years ago.

Everything has multiplied since that conversation for Baginskiy, who, even back then, already had a successful independent fashion brand.

The past year has been an especially busy one for Baginskiy and his business partner, Petro Yasinskiy. Like any other Ukrainian business, it has faced unprecedented challenges since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

And yet, there has been a silver lining: global recognition of the Ruslan Baginskiy brand has grown, helping it to not only stay afloat but to thrive as one of fashion’s need-to-know accessories labels.

Ruslan Baginskiy is the co-founder and designer behind the namesake hat brand. Photo: Ruslan Baginskiy

The label’s origins go back to 2015, when Ruslan and Petro moved from Lviv in western Ukraine to the country’s capital, Kyiv, to start a hat brand.