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Ukraine’s First Lady Maryna Poroshenko knows how to look classy for not much money, like a lot of Ukrainians.

Poroshenko surprised everyone when she wore a budget dress to the Day of Ukrainian Flag celebration in St. Sophia Cathedral on Aug. 23. Her elegant pastel yellow dress came from Ukrainian mass market brand MustHave and was just Hr 899, or $68.

Her two 14-year old daughters wore dresses of the same design but navy blue and white.
It is not unusual for first ladies – Ukrainian ones being no exception – to support their home country designers by wearing their dresses in public. However, the dresses are usually custom-made and end up being quite pricey.

Poroshenko wore two dresses by Ukraine’s high-profile designers Lilia Poustovit and Viktoria Gres to her husband’s inauguration in June, both designed specifically for her. And the most noticeable woman in Ukraine’s politics, Yulia Tymoshenko, preferred to have her feminine business style dresses custom-made by Ukrainian designer Ayna Gasse.

However, Poroshenko’s dress wasn’t custom-made for her. Her style consultant picked it up from MustHave a day before the ceremony, as well as the dresses for the president’s daughters. Anyone can order any of the three dresses from the brand’s website or pick them up at the shop.

It has never been caught by the press that Ukraine’s first ladies ever wore dresses neither pre-ordered nor lacking such an obvious attribute as a high-rocketing price. So, Poroshenko’s affordable Ukrainian-made dress seems to be a deliberate statement – demonstrating how the president’s family is close to regular Ukrainians.

According to MustHave’s PR manager Alina Yelovenkova, her colleagues were struck when on Aug. 22 they received a call from Zoya Zvynyatskivska, fashion critic and the first lady’s personal style consultant. The company was asked for eight dresses for a fitting, of which three were chosen and purchased – for a joined price of Hr 2,697. The dresses were required “for an official event.”

“She never mentioned though who would wear those dresses,” says Yelovenkova. “It was in the late evening when we were told that three dresses were actually bought to be worn by the first lady and her daughters. That was a big shock, and, honestly, I could not believe it at first.”

The first lady couldn’t be reached for comment.

While all the dresses are still available at MustHave, there is one little detail. Poroshenko’s dress came from the older party, produced in May, and had sleeves that cover the elbows. The same dresses now have slightly shorter sleeves.

“The first lady bought the very last sample of this dress. As the season has almost finished there was no need to re-start this model’s production,” Yelovenkova explains.

Poroshenko’s choice of dress reminds of another first lady doing a similar thing – Michelle Obama. In 2011 she famously appeared on the NBC’s Today Show sporting a $34.95 H&M dress.

“It is an obvious, powerful support of local clothes producers. It seems that nobody ever did so much for them in the years since Ukraine gained independence,” Zvynyatskivska wrote in a blog on Ukrayinska Pravda website, commenting on Poroshenko’s choice of dress.

She also expressed a hope that it will start a new trend for Ukraine’s rich, “who wear Dior even when they go to a bathroom.”

“Because always wearing a dress that costs like a car is an atavism – sort of like having a tail,” Zvynyatskivska concluded.

Kyiv Post staff writer Bozhena Sheremeta can be reached at [email protected].