How do you find beauty – and concentrates on it – in the middle of suffering? The Ukrainian Fashion Week asked itself this question again. For the second time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the beginning of the war in 2022, the event returned to Kiev. Already in September the event appeared again as a fashionable hope. The topic of hope remains central to the organizer: inside of the Ukrainian fashion week and the 40 designers: inside that showed their autumn/winter 2025 collections under the motto ‘Hope for the future’.
For many designers: Inside in Ukraine, hope now takes on the form of resilience and solidarity, especially towards those who continue to fight for their country. Fashion, often dismissed as superficial, has been experimenting with the concept of adaptive clothing for some time – but this new meaning is given in Kiev.
Fashionable solidarity with the front
The program Clothing With A Function launched this season has the goal of not only involving people with special needs – be it through injuries to hands, eyes or legs or by using prostheses and mobility aids – but active to integrate.
A designer who brought the topic of adaptive fashion on the catwalk – without making it the main focus of his collection – was Andreas Moskin. His autumn/winter 2025 collection was strongly inspired by the Ukrainian cultural elite of the 1920s and 1930s as well as the avant-garde novels by the experimental author Mike Johansen.
Within the collection, which mainly included heavy tweeds, cashmere and wool, this concept was implemented by extended jackets with a belt – reminiscent of work clothes – as well as deconstructively designed suits with unexpected details such as attached pockets. In order to make the designs adaptively, functional elements were also integrated, such as removable sleeves with invisible zipper or pants with zippers on the inner side seams, which enable the quick dressing and moving out of a prosthesis.
“The asymmetrical arrangement of the seams on the front of the jacket is reminiscent of mutilation and destruction,” said branded founders Andrew Moskin and Andreas Bilous in a statement. “In this collection we tried to reflect the stages of the creation of our cultural elite – from black and red pictures that are reminiscent of censorship and wars, right down to bright, open silhouettes that stand for the era of independence.”
Adaptive fashion for people with prosthesis needs is not the only sign of a changed consciousness of the Ukrainian fashion week. The charity initiative “Faces of Heroes”, a project to support people with facial injuries, was also introduced this season. This gives designers: inside the opportunity to contribute to the treatment and rehabilitation of individual affected people.
Preserve identity and promote young voices
The effects of the war are not only noticeable in new initiatives and visual representations – they run through the entire event. Fashion Week took place just a few days after the controversial plans for Ukraine by US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, in which neither President Zelensky nor European MPs have been involved.
Nevertheless, Iryna Danylevska, founder and CEO of the Ukrainian Fashion Week, steadfastly and underlines the importance of fashion in these critical times: “For us, fashion is not just creativity; It has become an instrument to protect our freedom, identity and future. “
Ivan Frolov, founder and creative director of Frolov also transported a piece of this cultural identity. At first glance, his Dirty As Angel collection looked like a tribute to the emo and goth aesthetics of the early 2000. But it was more important. The show, staged as a rock concert, focused on Ukrainian music and addressed “freedom in every form that she took at the time”, as the designer explained in his show notes.
Visually, the designer-one of the best known of the country, who has already equipped stars such as Sabrina Carpenter and Beyoncé-translated his youthful Rock’n’Roll fantasies in riveted belt, extended corset silhouettes and its characteristic, heart-shaped cut-outs unexpected places. Frolov has already established itself internationally. But for many other designers: the career only begins now. The Ukrainian fashion week is aware of this responsibility and starts here.
“Many internationally known Ukrainian fashion brands started their career at the Ukrainian Fashion Week,” emphasized Danylevska. “Especially in these difficult times of a comprehensive war we know how essential it is to support the next generation of Ukrainian designers: inside – they are the future of our fashion industry. Our country is rich in talents, and for 27 years we have been working on making their voices audible worldwide. ”
In order to promote this offspring in a targeted manner, the Newgen Lab platform was created-a stage for young talents who would like to qualify for the main running bridge of the Fashion Week in the long term. One of these labels, which made his debut as part of Newgen Lab, was Apsara. The “conceptual slow fashion mark”, founded by Yulia Psaryova, pursues the goal of reinterpreting existing clothing. Their designs are created by a rare, traditional technology – crocheting with a fork – and are completely made by hand.
The leading topic for autumn/winter 2025/26 was transformation – a process that the designer describes as growth, adaptation and development, but also in a literal sense as a change in form. This metamorphosis was reflected in recycled objects that were brought about to new life, as well as in the redesign of a look reminiscent of bridal fashion, the traditional white of which was dipped into a deep red.
Red, albeit a deeper burgundy tone, was also the focus of the C.ICON brand based in LVIV. The label began to experiment with down -filled clothing in 2017 and moved away from the traditional perception of down jackets as a pure sportswear or casual wardrobe by integrating it into classic, playful and experimental looks. In Kiev, the brand presented a collection that quarreled jackets, long coats as well as a combination of an anorak and a skirt in the dark Burgundy tone already mentioned.
Fashion may seem unimportant in times of global crises, but Violett Fedorova, online chief of Vogue Ukraine, emphasizes the power of fashion as a universal language: “Since the beginning of the war, I have become even more aware that fashion has been a powerful tool to speak to the world can. It does not need translation and is understandable to everyone. It is also part of cultural diplomacy – and local fashion weeks are essential to promote young talents and make their development visible. ”