With the war in Ukraine, fashion and fashion weeks seem insignificant, if not frivolous. And yet the Ukrainian designer Jean Gritsfeldt manages to make the statement of the hour with his fashion show in the Berlin power plant, which went deep into the core of many viewers.
It’s not about fashion
A model in a baggy black T-shirt with the inscription “Ukraine” first dances ecstatically, contorting herself down the catwalk. Following is a model in a long black halterneck dress with a statement of “conscience.” The next outfit says “Ukraine” on the t-shirt and “Freedom” on the skirt. And so more words like “happiness”, “peace”, “gratitude” and “love” follow.
With every further outfit it becomes clear: the fashion show by Gritsfeldt is not about fashion. Instead of presenting his autumn/winter collection as planned, he showed a statement of emotions and feelings.
“Today is not the time to talk about fashion, but through fashion,” says Jean Gritsfeldt in a recorded video message from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv at the beginning of the show. “Today we’re not showing the new season, today we’re not showing any new looks, because when you’re in a bomb shelter, or in a subway tunnel, or in the basement, nobody cares what you’re wearing.”
Universal Values
The clothes the models wore were simple, almost ascetic – T-shirts, straight skirts, jog pants, cotton shirt dresses. But precisely this reduction to the essence reflects how life is reduced to the bare minimum during a war. And the statement focused entirely on the emotion and symbolic power that lies in the simple, imprinted words like “love,” “humanity,” and “happiness.”
Pronounced by a Ukrainian designer, who is probably in embattled Kyiv at the moment, these universal words take on enormous explosive power. Because they express his hopes and those of millions of Ukrainians for things that all people long for.
The power of fashion
Since the Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine, the designer has been stuck in Kyiv, along with his collection for the coming autumn/winter. But he brought his message to the catwalk with the help of 30 volunteers from Berlin.
Rounded up by the organizations Fashion Revolution and Sustainablefashionmatterz, the volunteers started sewing his designs ten days before the show and printed them with the statements, says Claudia Bischof, the managing director of Fashion Revolution Germany on Wednesday.
There were many Whatsapp messages and phone calls back and forth until the clothes were ready. “I know he’s very moved and I think we’ve been able to give him some strength through that,” says Bischof.
Because the strength of Gritsfeldt lies in its fashion. “Today I use the tool of fashion and now I’m fighting for tomorrow to be free,” says Gritsfeld in the video message in Berlin. “Full freedom for Ukraine and for all people on planet Earth. This is my strength and my mission.”
