Ukrainian capital to be replenished with world’s top designer boutiques

Khreshchatyk into Passazh to check out a few stores. The funny thing about Passazh is that despite its central location, you somehow always forget it exists. Because I drop in there so rarely, I didn’t notice the changes taking place. As I walked up Passazh that day, I realized that the small shopping street is about to become Kyiv’s major fashion nexus. I saw giant, flashy posters advertising Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, Burberry and Salvatore Ferragamo, each with “Opening soon!” inscriptions, covering the entire facades of the buildings along the street. Each poster was several stories high and seemed to be looking down on me, making me feel small and unimportant, and not just because of its size. Names such as these seem to scream out at you even when written in small script – in this case, they were really, really big.

I guess it should be considered good news. With Gucci and Louis Vuitton boutiques of its own – and right off its main street, all the more – Kyiv can now call itself a fashionable European capital. At least that’s how it will appear to tourists.

Until now, well-to-do shoppers could only find some of the aforementioned labels at several multi-brand boutiques in town, but of course, real designer stores are quite another story. Surely they will be beautifully designed and filled with the most attractive and well-dressed shop assistants, and surely they will stand empty for the most part, serving as nothing but museums for most of the population. Actually, some might venture inside to see a real Vuitton bag and try to figure out what differentiates it from the numerous replicas seen everywhere on the street. But I’ve got an even better idea: when the boutiques finally open, go window shopping along Passazh with a McDonald’s hamburger in your hand and pretend you’re Audrey Hepburn, only having lunch at Gucci instead of breakfast at Tiffany’s. There is no Tiffany’s here anyway. For now…