If modern Ukrainians could go back in time to have a walk along Kyiv’s central Khreshchatyk Street on a regular day in 1995, they wouldn’t be surprised — life 25 years ago just wouldn’t appear that alien.
But there were differences.
Few people could afford a car and so there were no traffic jams. Cafes and restaurants were almost non-existent. And nobody rushed towards metro stations holding coffee cups in their hands — in 1995, Ukrainians would drink their coffee at home.
Many Ukrainians would be dressed in a relatively modest way, preferring double-breasted coats, solid-colored suits and turtlenecks.
The youth, however, would stand out from the crowd with their patent leather jackets on top of bright T-shirts, accompanied by leopard-printed leggings or high-waisted boiled jeans. They would be listening to music on cassette players and chattering about “Santa Barbara,” the legendary U.S. soap opera, which aired in Ukraine in 1992–1997 and was a huge hit here.
In the subway, most people would be reading books or newspapers, instead of checking their phones. Although few Ukrainians had cellphones in 1995, those who had one couldn’t use it for entertainment: those heavy rectangles with antennas were good for nothing but making calls.
Life in Ukraine back then was challenging but exciting at the same time.
Four years after gaining independence, the country’s ties with Russia were still strong.
It was the year that brought to fame many performers singing in and popularizing the Ukrainian language, while the first Ukrainian-language shows and films started to air on television. It was quite a contrast to the Russian-speaking culture that dominated in Ukraine during the Soviet era.
“It was a good year for our young country,” historian Inna Khomych told the Kyiv Post.
And in October 1995, American Jed Sunden founded the Kyiv Post, establishing probably one of the first independent media in Ukraine at the time.
Wind of change
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought dramatic changes to Ukraine: imported goods hit the shelves, more people started running a business and traveling abroad, finally finding out what was behind the Iron Curtain.
With all of those transformations, the nation’s taste in music, cinema and clothes shifted too: Ukrainians started to favor local products over the Russian ones and dove into the world of Western popular culture.
“1995 was a special year for Ukrainian culture,” Khomych says. “In a very short time after gaining independence, Ukrainian artists quickly identified their main priorities, restraining from the Russian influence, and created a unique cultural environment in the country.”
Ukrainian duo Fantom-2 performs one of its electronic dance music hits during the shooting of the “Terytoriia A” TV show. A widely popular program in the 1990s, “Teritoriia A” was the first Ukrainian TV show that ranked music videos by local performers. (Courtesy)
According to Khomych, there was no variety in clothing during the Soviet times. In the 1990s, however, Ukrainians quickly took a liking to brighter and bolder outfits.
“Many of us still remember those leopard print leggings, blazer caps, boiled jeans and denim jackets,” Khomych says.
In 1995, bazaars were top-destinations for people looking for trendy clothes. There were no proper changing rooms or, sometimes, no changing rooms at all. People had to try on apparel while standing on a small piece of cardboard behind a curtain hanged or held by the seller. That was highly uncomfortable, especially during the cold seasons.
Although crowded and inconvenient, bazaars were like “meccas for Ukrainian fashionistas,” according to Khomych.
They were full of cheap goods brought to Ukraine by shuttle traders from nearby countries such as Turkey, Hungary and Poland.
T-shirts with printed logos of popular bands — like Metallica, Nirvana and Prodigy — or pictures of U. S. actor Leonardo DiCaprio and British actress Kate Winslet, who played the main characters of the iconic “Titanic,” were highly popular back then.
Fishnet tights, crop tops, angora sweaters, oversized leather and patent leather jackets, platform shoes and scrunchies — they all were on the hit list. There was also no need to choose between wearing a skirt and a pair of trousers: the combination of both was somehow very trendy.
But there was no original brand apparel. Getting a striped Adidas tracksuit was as desirable of a dream for the majority of Ukrainians as it was unachievable.
Legendary Ukrainian TV host and singer Anzhelika Rudnytska, says that in the 1990s, people finally found the courage to dress as they wished to.
“I remember when (famous Ukrainian pop singer Oleksandr) Ponomarev was performing wearing a bright pink jacket and a huge golden necklace,” Rudnytska says. “It was incredible.”
Ponomarev was among the most loved Ukrainian pop acts of the 1990s. But so was Rudnytska, who also pioneered in the transformation of the local music industry.
Freedom of creativity
Just like the rest of the world, in 1995, Ukrainians enjoyed the music of some of the world’s most influential performers, including U2, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Seal, and Elton John.
However, the country also had local performers who were no less eclectic and oddball than their foreign counterparts.
There was pop-reggae band The Vyo, Fantom‑2 group, which released psychedelic music videos for their electronic dance songs, and Aqua Vita, a phenomenon duo that provoked the public with an experimental and bizarre singing style, lyrics and videos.
“There were many great foreign performers, whom Ukrainians adored. But there was also a need to make Ukrainian singers popular in their country,” Rudnytska says.
That variety in music was invisible on TV, because few acts had money and equipment to shoot and release music videos back then.
Rudnytska aimed at changing that.
“Ukraine needed a breakthrough that would make the country’s culture and art popular among its citizens,” she says.
Rudnytska had just heard about MTV back then. The stories of her colleagues about this unusual U.S. TV channel focusing on music videos fascinated her and inspired her to launch something similar in Ukraine.
In September 1995, Rudnytska, together with Oleksandr Bryhynets, a Ukrainian poet and former lawmaker, co-founded “Terytoriia A” (A Territory in English) — the first Ukrainian TV show that ranked music videos. Rudnytska also hosted the program.
It was a breakthrough for both the television and music industries in Ukraine. According to Rudnytska, “Terytoriia A” became the most popular music program in the late 1990s, which won “an army of fans.”
“No matter what they were doing, people would put it on hold to watch the show,” Rudnytska says.
The program encouraged musicians to film music videos and sing in Ukrainian.
“We wanted to do something that would not force people to speak, sing and think in Ukrainian but make it desirable and prestigious,” Rudnytska says.
They also encouraged the audience to participate in ranking by voting via letters.
Khomych believes that the show brought musical diversity to the wider public by introducing genres like hip-hop and pop-rock.
The show was a launchpad for many music acts, some of which later grew to dominate the market. They include rock bands Green Gray, Braty Hadiukiny, Druha Rika, Okean Elzy, Skryabin, as well as pop singers Iryna Bilyk, Natalia Mohilevska and Viktor Pavlik.
“We did not want to make another program that would fit into the (post-Soviet TV) concept. We wanted to break all the patterns and we succeeded,” Rudnytska says.
What they also aimed at changing was the audience’s perception of “the incredibly talented” local musicians.
“People called them pop performers. And we wanted everyone to call them stars,” Rudnytska says.
Khomych believes that programs like “Terytoriia A” marked the local media’s shift from being just a propaganda tool in the hands of the Soviet authorities.
“There was freedom of creativity,” Khomych says.
And 1995, according to Rudnytska, was one of the key years in that transformation.
“We initiated the changes that have eventually helped us become who we are today.”
