One Year of War

In that time we have grown up, become stronger, braver and more unbreakable than ever. Our fighters have learned to resist a seemingly invincible dragon, and everything that happened last March now feels more like a haze. Only the ruined homes of thousands of people and the words “Time hears us” remind us that it all really happened.

It always seems that it is happening somewhere else, to someone else. But when bombs fall on your city, it becomes personal. None of us is fighting for abstract ideas or someone’s property. Each of us is fighting for the right to live the life we want to live — for our home, our family, our friends, the people we love.

From the start of the war, the main questions were: “How can I personally help? How can I bring victory closer?” The answer seems simple, but it is far from obvious: do what you do best. I know how to make clothes — and, better still, how to reveal a woman’s beauty through them.

That is how the idea for this collection was born: in the most terrible times, when it seems the world is already lost, light is needed more than ever. And what inspires and strengthens our defenders more than the image of a woman? An image I tried to recreate with my own instrument — clothing.

This collection is about war and love, beauty, life and people — unbreakable, reinforced-concrete and so beautiful. It is a story about those whose actions are writing the history of today. Built from thousands of fragments of the former world and guided by an inner compass, the image of a new, contemporary Ukrainian woman crystallised in the crater of Kharkiv’s shelling.

In this collection we tried to capture the blend of strength and lightness, resilience and tenderness, steadfastness and gentleness in our women — an example of how to become a beacon of freedom and of the free world that exists wherever we are. To shine through the darkest nights and remind us what we are fighting for.

Personally, I stand for love and beauty, because I believe they are what can save the world. Everyone has their own weapon. As mine, I choose to cherish Ukrainian culture and human beauty. This is my attempt to thank the city and its heroes for their resistance, to honour the memory of everyone who has fallen, and to remind everyone still living what the fight is for. So what are we fighting for? Why not for love and beauty?