When Kyiv-based fashion designer Ivan Frolov, together with the jewelry house Sova, decided to produce a joint collection of jewelry, their goal was not only to create accessories — they also wanted to help Ukrainians fighting HIV.
At least 240,000 Ukrainians currently live with human immunodeficiency viruses, or HIV, according to the World Health Organization, or WHO, but the actual number is unknown, as many people do not undergo regular medical checkups.
A new jewelry collection called “Fight for Love” aims to change that situation by raising money to purchase HIV test kits, increasing people’s awareness of the disease.
Presented at the latest Ukrainian Fashion Week, held in Kyiv on Feb.1–5, “Fight for Love” is the result of cooperation between Frolov, Sova and 100% Life, a charity organization, and the network of people living with HIV.
Anastasia Deeva, the executive director of 100% Life, says they have united to show HIV from another viewpoint, less scary and more optimistic.
“The collection was designed to engage all of us in this fight against HIV,” Deeva said. “With this campaign, we encourage people to get tested, as it is always better to know and to start treatment before it’s too late,” she said.
According to Deeva, 60 percent of people with HIV got the disease after having unprotected sex, and therefore, when buying jewelry from “Fight for Love” collection, one should also expect to get a condom, hidden inside the jewelry box, as a tiny reminder to protect yourself.
“The collection is dedicated to love, and love is beautiful. However, people should also remember that love has to be safe,” Deeva said.
Five percent of sales of the collection will be donated to 100% Life to buy rapid HIV test kits that detect antibodies to HIV in blood or oral fluid, showing the results within 20 minutes. Rapid HIV tests will be available for free at the 100% Life departments all over Ukraine.
Fight for love
Released in the run up to Valentine’s Day, a romantic holiday that’s widely celebrated on Feb. 14, the collection is said to be an alternative to classic engagement rings, replacing a popular symbol of love — a heart — with a more unusual one, a realistic human heart, engraved onto each jewelry piece.
“Fight for Love” includes seven types of jewelry, including bracelets, earrings, rings, and pendants in the shape of a realistic human heart.
In addition to the jewelry, designers have also added a thin, silken red shawl to each piece, so that accessories can be adapted and worn differently.
For instance, a ring can be turned into an earring, pedants can be worn as bracelets or choker necklaces, tied around the neck with the fabric.
Apart from that, “Fight for Love” was inspired by the life and creativity of an iconic British rock-musician, the front man for the rock band Queen, Freddie Mercury, who died of pneumonia resulting from AIDS at the age of 45.
Frolov, who is a well-known fashion designer, and has 15 stores in 10 countries all around the globe, says it was a completely different area of responsibility for him, as with the collection of jewelry he wanted to destroy stereotypes about love.
“Since people want to remove restrictions and prejudices related to love, we decided to support it, making our jewelry suitable for both women and men,” Frolov said in an interview with the Kyiv Post.
Frolov also said that this jewelry collection is a promotion of socially responsible business in Ukraine, believing that it’s “important to make something useful, besides just doing business.”
Jewelry pieces from “Fight for Love” collection are available at every Sova shop all over Ukraine, and can also be purchased online.
The show
Anna Koval, marketing director for Sova, says they decided to present the new jewelry collection during Frolov`s fashion show at Ukrainian Fashion Week, on Feb.1, to attract more attention to the HIV crisis in Ukraine, as well as to establish a place where people could undergo medical checkups for HIV at no cost.
“On the first day of Ukrainian Fashion Week, over 100 people got tested for HIV, including all of the members of our team,” Koval told the Kyiv Post.
Frolov said his latest apparel collection, shown during the Ukrainian Fashion Week, was dedicated to first love.
According to Frolov, he decided to surprise the audience, and gave each of the show’s visitors a red pillow to sit on, transforming the show’s runway into a huge bed.
Each model was wearing a piece of jewelry from the new collection while walking to the songs of British singer Amy Winehouse and Anatoliy Solovianenko, an outstanding Ukrainian opera singer.
Frolov said there was great interaction between spectators and models, and that was really important for the audience to see not only clothes but jewelry too.
“I understood that people would see the jewelry in pictures after the show, but it was very important to me to also show some pieces during the show,” Frolov said.
Koval says they have been preparing the collection since March 2018, and are truly happy to finally release it, especially before Valentine’s Day.
“It was important for us to talk about the huge problem for Ukraine — HIV,” she said.
“With the help of this collection, we wanted to show that HIV is not the end of life, as the level of virus in the blood can be reduced to zero. People should just get tested and live their lives to the fullest,” Frolov said.
