Vozianov
Twice a year, the fashion masses gather round in Lviv, Ukraine, to attend one of the the industry’s up and coming fashion weeks. This past October the 18th edition of Lviv Fashion Week presented us with a new wave of fresh and established talent, staying true to the event’s ethos to support the next generation of Ukranian designers and talents of the creative sphere. From October 26th to 29th, shows of the main schedule covered the main platform of Lviv Danylo Halytskyi International Airport; kicking off with the presentation of Kateryna Karol show a Lviv Polytechnic. In the program of this SS18 season the Ukrainian designers — established and emerging — dominated, and designers like Kateryna Karol, Olesya Marchuk, Marta Wachholz, Balossa, Lesia Semi, Olesia Hryn, Vozianov and Yulia Fedetska stole the limelight. Here are our top picks from the momentous event.
Kateryna Karol
Kateryna Karol is a Ukrainian ready-to-wear brand clothing and accessories for women. The inspiration of Spring-Summer 2018 collection ‘Dactylogram’ is a visual image of human fingerprint — special, similar yet unique to each of us. The concept of this collection is a track we leave on things, souls, and people’s lives. With one touch of a hand, we interfere with a great stream of changes or almost unnoticeably slide barely touching those near us. Each fingerprint is very symbolic and is the power of influence. When you start to realize the responsibility and don’t want to influence anything, wear gloves. Kathryn Karol combined asymmetric deconstructive decorative cuttings with constructive creases, pleated and removable detailing. Sizable cotton coats, blouses and tops of difficult constructions, pencil skirts, complicated patterns, and elements of embroidery create the basis of the collection. The futuristic disco colour palette — white golds, neon yellows, blue chameleon, black lead and grey — together with the texture of the materials chosen, and the achromatic fingerprints in polymer clay, eco-leather, wood and leather provide the final touches.
Marta Wachholz
Marta Wachholz is always in search for new silhouettes, constructions and peculiarities to add to her collections — that’s why the themes featured in her previous shows never repeat. In the Spring-Summer 2018 collection showcased during Lviv Fashion Week, we can see sculptural forms and unusual constructions which are interwoven with simple and traditional ones. Natural inspirations completed with geometry and graphics elements printed on fabrics, lead way to the boldly brilliant colours red and blue. A must have are the original hats and shoes with graphic elements, which complete every look of the collection.
Balossa
The perfect symmetry of Balossa was seen all throughout the collection; in the contrast between male and female, and the exciting exchange of proportions. Designer Indra Kaffemanaite brilliantly breaks the rules and re-defines elegance outside of the usual, narrow confines with the Balossa Spring-Summer 2018 Collection. Balossa takes a shortcut from fantasy to reality, drawing on the femininity of the classic Balossa shirt and the recurring themes of the brand, but boldly risking unusual shapes and forms and treating them with romanticism. In this way, beauty is re-defined as rarity, asymmetry becomes the rule and order becomes chaos. All whilst somehow maintaining harmony. This is a re-elaboration of the poetic concept that Indra wants to express, where proportions and shapes are highlighted in order to create fine and subtle geometries. We see this in the asymmetrical variations of the one-sided shirt, the seductive architecture of another shirt that becomes a shoulder-padded jacket, corsets of alternating lengths, or subtle asymmetrical geometries like sheaths on straight trousers. Indra’s game breaks all of the rules for the harmony of a perfect asymmetry.
Lesia Semi
The inspiration of Lesia Semi’s Spring-Summer 2018 collection was an idea of a spiral in nature. A spiral can be traced in different plants, organisms and structures— from web and fingerprints to galaxies. These elements can be visible in blouses, dresses and tunics, with sewed on, spiral-shaped, pleated ruches. Silhouettes are straight, trapezoidal, fitted and the accent is made on the shoulders, increased due to the cut and the shoulder pads. All pockets are outwards. Silk-organza, lace, wool, silk, velour, techniques of pleating (organza, lace) and corrugating become the protagonists. Keeping it classic, the basis of the colour scheme is reserved for blacks, whites and pastels.
Olesia Hryn
The Spring-Summer 2018 Collection by Olesia Hryn is focused on the contrast of speed, dynamics and forms. With constructivism as a focus point, the elements and silhouettes become bulky and create a dynamic composition. The use of natural fabrics— like coarse linen and lucent silk-like organza— and sheer synthetic materials— such as polyvinyl— reinforces the apiring of practical materials and shiny texture. The metalized cloths contrast the coarsely light fabrics. The use of polyvinyl, a practical transparent material, give the opportunity to see the clothes under them, supporting the idea of the collection to show different silhouettes in one model.
Yulia Fedetska
Yulia Fedetska designer debuts with ‘Simplicity’ for with the Spring-Summer 2018 Collection at Lviv Fashion Week — a combination of elegance, sophistication and moderation. The collection contains a lot of checked patterns, smooth lines and laconic cut. The colour palette is pastel-milky tones combined with classic black. “Elegance and sophistication are the most essential in the ‘Simplicity’ collection because, really, the whole chic concept resides in simplicity,’’ said the designer.
For information on Lviv Fashion Week please click here.
Images courtesy of Lviv Fashion Week.
Words / Myra Postolache
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