Russian attacks delayed shows and sent guests into bomb shelters. Even so, Kyiv held its fashion week, while Ukrainian brands report rising sales at home and an ever stronger international presence.
As the models got ready backstage, the air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv. Shows had to be postponed, the schedule was pushed back and guests took cover in bomb shelters. Still, Ukrainian Fashion Week carried on.
The 59th edition of the fashion week took place from 2 to 6 September and brought together around 50 Ukrainian brands. The programme included traditional shows, presentations, exhibitions and events aimed at press and buyers. Among the names were established players such as FROLOV, GUNIA Project, the COAT by Katya Silchenko and NADYA DZYAK, alongside a new generation of designers. Ukrainian Fashion Week and FashionUnited confirm the programme and the number of participants.
A fashion week on war’s terms
This year’s fashion week took place during a particularly intense period of Russian drone and missile attacks. The air raid alerts that previously often came at night now also marked the days in the capital.
During the event, several shows had to wait while the audience and staff stayed in shelters. During the fashion week’s closing show, the alarm went off again, and guests had to leave the venue and take cover.
The contrast is hard to ignore. The clothes moved down the catwalk in carefully choreographed shows, while the unpredictability of war was constantly just outside the room. Between presentations, guests checked messages about new attacks and assessed whether it was safe to move on through the city.
Even so, the programme continued as soon as safety allowed.
More than a symbolic event
It’s easy to describe Ukrainian Fashion Week as a symbol of resilience. For the designers, however, the event is also about something far more concrete: jobs, orders and the ability to keep going.
The war has affected the entire value chain. Production has to be adapted to power cuts and attacks, employees have moved or been mobilised, and transporting materials and finished garments requires far more planning than before.
At the same time, the Ukrainian fashion industry is showing signs of commercial progress. Several brands are finding that Ukrainian customers are increasingly choosing local designers. For many, buying Ukrainian fashion has also become a way of supporting the country’s culture, economy and creative communities.
That’s why this year’s fashion week opened with the conference New Rules of the Game: Strategies for Resilience and Real Sales 2026/27. Here, representatives from fashion, retail and marketing discussed how brands can strengthen sales in Ukraine and continue their international expansion. The organiser describes the aim as finding practical strategies for real sales and more sustainable business models.
Ukrainian fashion finds new markets
Ukrainian designers have long been visible beyond the country’s borders, but international interest has grown since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Brands have shown collections in London, Paris, Copenhagen and Berlin, among other cities, while several have gained a foothold with international online stores and physical retailers.
Names such as FROLOV, Ruslan Baginskiy, Anna October, Ksenia Schnaider, Bevza and GUNIA Project have helped make Ukrainian design increasingly recognisable internationally. What might initially have been perceived as solidarity-driven interest has, for several brands, developed into lasting relationships with press, celebrities, buyers and customers.
After several seasons in European fashion capitals, Ukrainian Fashion Week returned to Kyiv in September 2024. The organiser wanted both to strengthen the home market and to show the world that the country’s creative industries were still active. Vogue described the return at the time as necessary for the designers’ visibility and continued operation.
Tradition as a look forward
This season, the fashion week also put the spotlight on Ukrainian craftsmanship. The exhibition Behind the Craft showed how designers use traditional techniques, symbols and materials in a modern context.
The craftsmanship didn’t just function as a nostalgic reference to the past. It was presented as a source of innovation and as a way of protecting a cultural identity that Russia is trying to undermine.
The collections thus took on a significance that reached beyond the season’s trends. The clothes became both products to be sold and expressions of a country that insists on preserving its own voice.
Creativity without a pause button
Ukrainian Fashion Week could not be held as if the war didn’t exist. Shows had to be adapted to the alarms, safety came first and plans could change within minutes. That made the event both fragile and extraordinary. Still, the designers don’t want to be defined solely by the conditions they work under. They want to be judged on the silhouettes, the craftsmanship, the ideas and the clothes they create – not just on their ability to carry on.
When the guests returned from the shelters and the programme continued, it was therefore more than a symbolic act. It was also a reminder that a fashion industry must be allowed to work, sell and develop if it is to survive.
In Kyiv, there is no pause button for the war. This fashion week showed that Ukrainian fashion has no pause button for creativity either.