A designer from Ukraine is the new star in the club accessories genre. The current style column by Jan Kedves.
When can you ever enjoy spelling out the alphabet of headgear, from A for ascot hat to Z for top hat? This column could be filled with B alone: baker boy hat, balaclava, beret, baseball cap, beanie, borsalino and so on. Headwear can be a great accessory, and it’s even better when hats are given a political dimension. Like Ruslan Baginskiy, the youngest star in the ranks of fashion milliners. The Ukrainian designer recently won the ANDAM fashion prize, which is awarded in Paris by “L’Association Nationale pour le développement des arts de la mode”. In the “Accessories” category, it is endowed with 100,000 euros.
Real pieces of resistance!
Rihanna is a fan. Shortly before her death, Queen Elizabeth II was given a Baginskiy hat. And Beyoncé had the designer create these huge spectacular mirror hats for her “Renaissance” tour. Actually, the most iconic hat moment in pop so far has been Grace Jones singing her cover of Roxy Music’s “Love Is The Drug” live while bright green laser beams erupt in her Philip Treacy disco ball bowler hat, which is studded all around with Swarovski crystals. Now you will never forget how Beyoncé with her fierce silver dancer formation lets polished mirror brims from Ukraine bob and flash. They could almost be circular saw blades if they had serrations on the edge. Real pieces of resistance!
This year, when Russia’s war against Ukraine seems to just go on and on, it’s nice to see news like this coming out of the country. “Ukraine’s involvement in major pop culture moments is part of our resistance. It means we’re still here. And that we are building our future,” Baginskiy told Numéro magazine, and he talked about the challenges of producing the Beyoncé hats: lack of materials and skilled workers, many milliners have fled the country.
But it worked. The label’s flagship stores in Kyiv and Lviv have remained open, and the 33-year-old designer caters to an astonishing range. Alongside dramatic pop pieces, his collection includes old-fashioned linen country peasant bonnets, elegant straw berets, and gold-chained cowboy hats that Lil Nas X could wear. Creativity that does not let adversity and the military threat get you down, but at most spurs you on. Hats off!
This column first appeared in the Musikexpress issue 09/2023.