Forbes spotlights Ukrainian designer’s edgy masks

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many fashion brands produced their versions of reusable face masks. But few approached it as a full-fledged accessory that completes a look and deserves as much creativity as any other wardrobe item.

Ukrainian designer Juliya Perekriostova, who runs the Julia Kros brand, did just that. Soon her cloth gear captured the attention of the international community.  

The U.S. Forbes listed Juliya Kros as one of 20 international brands that make the most creative face masks during the pandemic.

“It was absolutely unexpected,” Perekriostova told the Kyiv Post. “We were shocked.”

The designer is based in Sumy, a city of 265,000 located about 330 kilometers northeast of Kyiv. She founded the fashion brand in 2015 to produce monochrome women’s apparel using asymmetrical cuts, multiple layers and other Asian motives.

Perekriostova says that when the Ukrainian government intensified the quarantine restrictions ruling everyone to wear masks in public spaces and outside, many of the brand’s regular customers reached out to check if there are masks to match their looks.

She says that some of her clients are officials and business people who continue to work during the lockdown. 

“My clients are aesthetes,” Perekriostova says. “(They) wanted to look stylish so that a mask accompanies their clothes.”

 

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Допис, поширений JULIYA KROS (J.Perekriostova) (@juliyakros_official) 22 Бер 2020 р. о 3:10 PDT

The designer used the leftover fabric from her previous collections to create a series of masks that match the brand’s clothing. The “Save Around” collection features both simple cotton monochrome masks and avant-guard ones made of eco-leather with a zipper right in the middle.

At first, the brand sent the masks to their customers for free. But soon the demand from all over Ukraine started growing and they shifted to selling them for Hr 120-220 ($4-8) online.

The zipper mask attracted much attention on social media causing multiple people to share it. Perekriostova assumes it’s this item that captured the interest from Forbes, since its picture they used in the article.

“These masks keep the wearer safe and stylish,” the story on Forbes reads.

Apart from Perekriostova’s brand, the list features designers from all over the world. Most of them are based in the United States.

The Juliya Kros brand is now manufacturing its upcoming summer collection. Although they don’t plan to make any more masks, for some of their dresses, they will produce collars that can be transformed into masks.

“We need to stay in style this summer somehow,” Perekriostova says.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the World Health Organization, or WHO, didn’t advise the public to wear masks unless they show the novel coronavirus symptoms or take care of someone who is infected. 

Later on, some reports found the practice of wearing a mask effective in restraining the coronavirus pandemic. So governments across Europe and the United States started advising or ruling to wear a mask in public. The Ukrainian authorities did the same.

Since the start of the quarantine in Ukraine, many fashion brands started producing face masks. Some, like leather apparel-focused Wildwood, send them for free upon request. Others, like Kass, sell cloth masks and use the revenue to produce and donate protective gear for doctors and masks for orphanages.

Earlier Ukrainian designers teamed up under the guidance of Svitlana Bevza, who runs the Bevza brand, to manufacture protective suits for doctors.