This year’s Best Fashion Awards brought together some of the most outstanding Ukrainian designers to celebrate their talent at a ceremony held on Nov. 19 at the Fairmont Grand Hotel in Kyiv.
Svitlana Bevza received the Best Women’s Clothing Designer award, while Artem Klimchuk won the prize for Best Men’s Clothing Designer.
Ukrainian Fashion Week and the online magazine Zefir founded the annual awards in 2010 to honor influential players in the Ukrainian fashion industry. A committee of 35 experts in the field selects the winners.
In recent years, the country’s design world has been developing rapidly, and the competition is getting harsher. The industry has also attracted a great deal of international attention with numerous celebrities and fashion influencers picking pieces by Ukrainian brands.
Bevza runs the same-name brand that offers minimalist and elegant apparel for women. This is the second time the designer has won the category. She received her first award in 2013.
The American model and actress Emily Ratajkowski was spotted wearing a navy mini dress by Bevza last year. In May, the star of “Game of Thrones,” U.K. actress Sophie Turner, picked Bevza’s silky white jumpsuit for her wedding.
Ukrainian designer Svitlana Bevza poses for a photograph with her Best Women’s Clothing Designer prize at the Best Fashion Awards on Nov. 19, 2019, at the Fairmont Grand Hotel in Kyiv (Courtesy)
Klimchuk, who was acknowledged for his menswear collections, designs eccentric apparel for both men and women. This is his second prize in the category. He also won the award for womenswear in 2018.
Fans of his work include pop diva Tina Karol and Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska, who wore an elegant white dress and caped embroidered jacket by Klimchuk for her husband Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration in May.
The awards also honored the Best Accessories Designer, a category occupied by Ruslan Baginsky for the last two years who also took home the award this year. Baginsky, who has risen to exceptional success in the last several years, is known internationally for making some of the most fashionable headwear.
Some of the most influential names in the fashion world wear Baginsky’s straw fedoras, felt gamblers, leather berets and his famous baker boy caps. The list of his fans includes singers Madonna and Miley Cyrus, models Bella and Gigi Hadid, Natalia Vodianova, Paris Hilton and television personalities Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian.
Baginsky is also one of the last year’s winners of the Kyiv Post’s Top 30 under 30 Awards, which celebrates young Ukrainian leaders from all walks of life.
Another prominent local designer, Ivan Frolov, was awarded for the Best Fashion Production. Frolov is a long-time record-holder in the category having collected five victories in a row. The designer, who offers apparel for women and men, explores the boundaries of sexuality in his extravagant pieces.
One of the two 2019 shows that won the designer the award showcased two of his collections at Ukrainian Fashion Week in February. His clothing collection for women was dedicated to first love and featured bold, revealing outfits.
The second, a jewelry collection called “Fight for Love,” was the creation of Frolov’s collaboration with the local jewelry house Sova. A number of subtle accessories were made to promote awareness about HIV in Ukraine and raise money for those fighting the virus. For Frolov’s presentation, the runway was scattered with pillows and mattresses while the models laid and sat down during the show.
Ukrainian designer Ivan Frolov poses for a photograph with his Best Fashion-Production prize at the Best Fashion Awards on Nov. 19, 2019, at the Fairmont Grand Hotel in Kyiv. (Courtesy)
The Discovery of the Year prize went to Dafna May, a newcomer that specializes in clothing for women that mixes practicality and sophistication.
Another brand that has been an international hit, Ksenia Schnaider, collected two awards at the ceremony – Discovery of the Year and Sustainable Fashion. Founded by the couple of Anton and Ksenia Schnaider, the brand gained popularity because of their extraordinary denim pieces. One of them is demi-denims that combines both shorts and trousers with knee holes.
Ksenia Schnaider is one of the few Ukrainian brands that use sustainable fibers and promote eco-friendly production.
Their environmentally conscious approach and creative cuts won the brand a number of famous admirers such as Bella Hadid, singers Celine Dion, Alessia Cara and Dua Lipa, model Heidi Klum and actress Monica Bellucci.
“We were honored to receive two awards,” the brand’s Instagram account wrote on Nov. 20.
The latest addition to the list of categories is Cruelty-Free Fashion. Ukraine’s movement for animal rights called UAnimals initiated the category, and its leader, Oleksandr Todorchuk, was at the ceremony to present the prize to Dzhus brand of designer Iryna Dzhus.
The designer uses industrial themes to produce apparel for women.
In a Facebook post published on Nov. 20, Dzhus said they were honored to have received the award.
“Thank you Ukrainian Fashion Week and UAnimals for your trust and support!” the post reads.
