Paris haute couture in Kyiv

“Today Kyiv is the world’s most fashionable capital. Nowhere else are there more significant and elegant events taking place at this moment,” said Iryna Danylevska, the founder and chairperson of the organizing committee of the Ukrainian Fashion Week, introducing the famous Paris-based couturier Elie Saab at a press conference in Kyiv.

Indeed, the Ukrainian Fashion Week has not yet seen such a high and exalted level. Displaying haute couture collections, where fashion is most closely intertwined with art, is a rare thing for Ukraine, for our designers traditionally do pret-a-porter. This is only one reason why the arrival of the Paris-based designer Saab and his 2009—2010 autumn-winter collection should be considered the fashion event of the year.

Saab is of Lebanese origin and was born in Beirut in 1964. He began his first designer experiments when he was only six years old. In 1981 he went to study in Paris, only to come back home a year later and open his own atelier in Beirut. His designing genius immediately drew the attention of the local beau monde. As soon as in the early 1990s he began to take orders from Paris and Switzerland.

In 1997, Saab made a triumphant comeback to Europe, showing his collection in Rome. Then came Milan, Monaco, and membership in the French Federation of High Fashion. Today, the designer’s apparel is on sale in more than 60 Elia Saab boutiques all over the world. His evening and wedding dresses, which make up the lion’s share of haute couture collections, combine East and West, the proud Parisian fashion and what Europe considers exotic oriental luxury. Asked about the role of the East-West theme in his collections, the designer himself says that he has tried from the very beginning to work in the “Western style,” only borrowing some colors from the East.

“In any case, there is so much in common between East and West because the desire to look beautiful is typical of all women in the world,” the couturier noted at the Kyiv press conference.

One should seek the right answer to this question, naturally, in Saab’s collections, which would look totally different, too Parisian, so to speak, if they did not carry a subtle oriental flavor. Incidentally, Kyiv is the first foreign city where his 2009—2010 autumn-winter collection was displayed. Before this, since it debuted last summer in Paris, it had never travelled outside the French capital.

A few words about the gracious Parisian collection are in place. It is called Archi-Couture and is totally white. Its texture blends silk, chiffon, organza, lacework, crystal beads, “icy” spangles, and fur. The collection was inspired by the oeuvre of the well-known Czech modernist artist and theater production designer Alfons Mucha and reflects Saab’s devotion to architectural forms. It is difficult to explain this kind of fashion in words. We advise you to see the entire collection on the Ukrainian Fashion Week’s official website www.fashionweek.com.ua.

The very arrival of such designers as Saab, along with other celebrated artists, in Ukraine is very important for the entire Ukrainian fashion industry, not to mention those who were lucky to see all the 34 artworks with their own eyes. This is a signal that the fashion world of Ukraine is living, and the energy of its development is attracting the rest of the fashion world to Kyiv.

Danylevska noted at the press conference before the show that such events help Ukrainian designers integrate with the European world of fashion.

“The arrival of a designer of this caliber is a [significant] event not only for designers but also for Ukraine as a whole,” says fashion designer Iryna Karavan.

“There should be no restrictions,” fashion expert Viktoria Andrievska asserts. “Ukrainian designers should travel to Europe, while their European counterparts need to come to Ukraine. It seems to me that cosmopolitan philosophy is very popular now, and whoever adheres to it lives by its norms.”

“Fashion is, first of all, a worldwide notion,” designer Olena Dats says, concurring with Viktoria. “Naturally, there are fashions with the Ukrainian, French, or Italian face. But this is what unites all of us and makes the world more interesting.”

Saab’s visit to Ukraine has been sponsored by Oleksandr Onyshchenko. In addition to the designer, James Bond’s girlfriend Olha Kurylenko also came to Kyiv on his invitation.