The 10th Best Fashion Awards have named their picks of the most prominent achievements of Ukrainian designers in 2020. The winners were announced during a stream on Jan. 21.
The Best Women’s Clothing Designer award went to Kristina Bobkova. The brand of Ksenia Schnaider picked up the prize as Best Men’s Clothing Designer.
The award is a joint effort of Ukrainian Fashion Week and online magazine Zefir that has been recognizing the key players of the local fashion scene annually since 2010. A committee of 28 industry experts selected the recent winners based on their collections and drops released in 2020.
The award ceremony is usually a grand celebration privately held exclusively for the fashion community. This year, because of the COVID-19 restrictions, the event moved online, yet was available for a broad audience.
The winner of the Best Women’s Clothing Designer prize, Bobkova runs the same-name brand that crafts “everyday” garments for women. The designer uses Oriental motifs and Japanese cutting techniques to rethink gender stereotypes in clothing and make elegant pieces.
Having created her first clothing collection at 17, Bobkova has been showcasing her creations at Ukrainian Fashion Week since 1998. Aside from the regular season collections, Bobkova dropped a homewear capsule in 2020.
Bobkova thanked her team, the experts and everyone choosing their apparel in a Facebook post on Jan. 22 calling the prize “a big honor.”
Ksenia Schnaider, the brand founded by the couple of Anton and Ksenia Schnaider, has gone from being named the Discovery of the Year in 2019 to winning the Best Men’s Clothing Designer award a year later.
Famous for avant-garde denim pieces for men and women and sustainable approaches, the label has been a big hit among global fashion icons like Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa. In 2020, Ksenia Schnaider was selected as one of 13 brands to participate in Pitti Uomo 98, a famous bi-annual menswear exposition in Italy. Because of the pandemic, this year’s event was held online.
For the fourth year in a row, Ruslan Baginskiy received the Best Accessories Designer award.
The absolute winner of the category, Baginskiy has revived the culture of wearing hats on the international level. His headwear is sold in 150 stores worldwide. Countless taste-makers have been noticed wearing his pieces including Madonna, Paris Hilton, models Bella and Gigi Hadid and Natalia Vodianova.
After conquering the world with his signature baker boy cap design, Baginskiy recently set a new trend with his faux fur bucket hats.
Baginskiy is also one of the winners of the Kyiv Post’s Top 30 Under 30 award of 2018.
The Breakthrough of the year award went to Frolov, a brand by designer Ivan Frolov who explores sexuality and makes daring but elegant garments for women. His pieces were favored by a number of international celebrities such as Doja Cat, Rita Ora, Gwen Stefani and Dua Lipa.
Famous for creative fashion shows, he is a five-time winner in the Best Fashion Production category. The designer is also on the list of Kyiv Post’s Top 30 Under 30 award in 2019.
In 2020, Frolov joined the initiative of another Ukrainian designer, Svitlana Bevza, producing protective gear for Ukrainian doctors fighting COVID-19.
“This is truly unexpected and extremely pleasant,” Frolov wrote on Instagram on Jan. 21. “I believe that every Ukrainian brand that has survived this difficult year is a winner in all BFA 2020 nominations,” he added.
The Discovery of the Year prize went to Gunia Project, a multiproduct company that makes accessories, ceramic, textile and glass décor inspired by folk traditions. Founded by Natalia Kamenska and Mariia Havryliuk, the brand is best known for silk and cotton headscarves adorned with colorful prints and embroidery.
The Lake Studio women clothing label won the Best Fashion Production prize. Lilia Litkovskaya behind the Litkovskaya label won the Sustainable Fashion prize. And Oksana Devo, the founder of the DevoHome textile brand, won in the Cruelty-Free Fashion category.
