You're reading: Vogue: Ukraine’s influence on the runway is bigger than you think

Mercedes-Benz Kiev Fashion Days, one of Ukraine’s two Fashion Weeks, kicks off Feb. 2. The program has featured Ukrainian designers who have reached significant levels of success outside of Kyiv, including names like Julie Paskal, who now shows at Paris Fashion Week, as well as Anna October, who has sold at Browns in London.

But Ukrainian fashion, in the more traditional sense, has long had an influence on the runways. Take the peasant dress and blouse, the vyshyvanka: The Ukrainian folk-style costume made a local comeback after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and later became an international street style hit. Nearly a decade before, Jean Paul Gaultier featured iterations of the vyshyvanka in his bucolic Spring 2006 collection. Additionally, male models wore men’s vyshyvankas underneath suit jackets, a look that was popularized by 19th-century Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. A few years later, Gucci included a version in its rocker-bohemian–themed Fall 2008 collection. Valentino’s Spring 2015 Couture collection is one of the most-well-known examples of Ukrainian influence on the runway. Although originally referred to as Russian inspired by designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, the line boasted such traditional Ukrainian pieces as the zhupan—a woman’s coat—and a leibyk—a cropped embroidered vest.

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