While normal people begin their year in January, fashion industry gears up in September. For Elle Ukraine, the year has had a very bright beginning. Ukraine’s first lady Maryna Poroshenko, three months into this new status, appeared on the cover of September’s issue of the magazine, released on Aug. 19.
Poroshenko, 52, posed wearing a stylish red vyshyvanka. The president’s family is known to be fond of these traditional embroidered shirts.
Maryna Poroshenko has been married to Ukraine’s fifth President Petro Poroshenko for 30 years. The couple has two sons and two daughters. Their eldest son Oleksiy Poroshenko, 29, has recently had a son of his own, making Ukraine’s first couple grandparents.
However, the first lady looks nothing like your usual Ukrainian grandmother. In her photoshoot for Elle she is seen wearing stylish dresses that highlight her skinny build, including a white woolen pencil dress by Ukrainian designer Lilia Poustovit and a red silky one by Viktoria Kin.
It is known that Poroshenko has a degree in medicine and studied History of Arts. She worked in a hospital after graduation, but soon left her white coat to dedicate all her time to family.
In a Q&A with the magazine Poroshenko talked about her relationship with her husband, their children and how her life changed with the new status after her husband was elected a president in May.
“For my husband I’ve been the first lady all my life,” she is quoted as saying.
But some things did change for Marina Poroshenko. She admits that the family will have to postpone their regular trips together.
When asked about her secret of staying slim, Poroshenko said that while she eats healthily, she is not very much into sports. She claimed to inherit her build from her parents.
In spring of 2005, several months after the Orange Revolution, one of its leaders Yulia Tymoshenko, then a prime minister of Ukraine, made an appearance on the cover of Elle Ukraine. Tymoshenko wore a violet dress and her trademark braid.
The wife of Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s president in 2005-2009, Kateryna Yushchenko also appeared on the pages of Elle, but didn’t make it to the cover.
