When Vogue Ukraine’s fashion director Vena Brykalin boarded a plane headed for Milan Fashion Week from his hometown of Kyiv late last Wednesday night, he had no idea that just hours later Ukraine’s airspace would be shut down.
“I was actually meant to fly the following morning but my colleague randomly changed the booking at the last minute, so I guess she maybe saved my life,” he says, as we meet for a coffee in a hotel in Milan.
Brykalin, who has skipped many of the shows and made the decision not to post about fashion on social media while he has been here, is grateful to be safe, but struggling deeply with the fact that most of his team are spread around the Ukraine “hiding in basements.” Work is, unsurprisingly, on hold for now, and Vogue Ukraine’s upcoming issue has not gone to press.
Despite the dangers, Brykalin is asking himself whether he should return home, a mission that would involve flying to a border country and driving into Ukraine. “Being a male, there’s a pressure to return and sign up to the military effort,” he says. “I have female friends even looking for rifles and guns because they are that committed to helping the defence.” Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 have been banned from leaving the country and are being urged to join the army.
“Obviously I am very privileged being here in Milan. I am at fashion week and my friends are sleeping in parking lots for safety. I’m living a very different reality,” he continues. “That said, I think being an editor here, I have a unique position to tell our story… I thought if I am here (and I wasn’t trying to flee, it was a coincidence) I should be using this opportunity to make a difference.”
And certainly, as one of the few Ukrainian creatives at fashion week, Brykalin is being as vocal as possible. “Our goal as a country now is to rock the boat from all directions, to make people pay attention and support,” he says. But, he’s surprised that I am only the second journalist so far to have contacted him. Does he think Milan Fashion Week has done enough to acknowledge the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine, I ask?
“I don’t think we should expect the world to stop turning. I don’t think we should expect designers who have put six months work and all that money into a collection to just stop. I think, and I might get criticised for it, but that the show must go on. But I do think this industry is really tone deaf and Milan has shown that this week.”
He was frustrated to see so many brands that have built so much of their brand value on notions of inclusivity, social awareness and political awareness remain quiet. “In the end it’s about the decency of being a cultured, compassionate human being. And that appears to be a radical thing to do in this business.”
In the five days of fashion shows in Milan, the only designer who really acknowledged Ukraine, he thinks, was Giorgio Armani, with his silent show on Sunday. “Turning your music off is not the most radical thing in the world,” he says. “I don’t expect models walking out wearing Ukrainian national flags or burning a portrait of Vladimir Putin on the runway… The lamest thing you can do is to throw in Ukrainian dress into your collection just to show your support. But there are things you can do, you can stay in the realm of your aesthetic and your narrative and be respectful to your customers and the media, while still making a gesture.”
He continues, “I don’t know if it’s laziness, insensitivity or the fear of alienating certain customers. Russia is a huge market for all those designers. There is so much money at stake. That said, I don’t think Mr Armani’s business is going to be damaged in any way for doing what he did.”
For him, it is as simple as an acknowledgement. “I don’t even think you need to take sides – although common sense tells us where the truth, the humanity is – but it just boils down to basic things. Innocent people are dying, innocent people are having to fight and to struggle and to experience violence.”
He mentions a few of the major brands that denied him and fellow Ukrainian press tickets to shows, while continuing to invite Russian media. “Fashion is part of cultural diplomacy and, as a member of the press, I don’t come here as an individual, I represent a country, I represent a culture, I represent a media title that’s part of the cultural landscape. So it’s interesting that some brands chose not to see us this week,” he notes. “Of course they can do what they want, but this week it felt poignant to me.”
Ukrainian fashion model Kateryna Zub, 21, is also stranded. She flew out to Milan last Monday from her hometown of Kharkiv, the former Ukrainian capital, where her parents remain. “I call them and they are trying to tell me everything is fine, but I can hear the sounds of guns. Can you imagine?” Zub is stuck in Western Europe, while her parents are unable to flee. “It’s too late. They can’t go anywhere. Russians are everywhere. Tanks are everywhere. Oh my god, it’s a nightmare. It’s worse than anything I’ve seen in the movies.”
Arriving in Milan, Zub had planned to attend casting appointments (where brands book which models they want to walk in their shows), but when she heard the news, the model — who has previously walked for big brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Hermes and Hugo Boss — found she couldn’t continue. “My mood was destroyed, I was crying so much I couldn’t do castings. It’s horrible, it’s a nightmare. I can’t believe it’s happening in my country.”
A few fashion insiders at the appointments she did manage to attend showed concern and asked how they could help, but Zub overall found Milan Fashion Week was lacking in its acknowledgement. “It amazes me that people in Milan were just ignoring the situation in the Ukraine. They were still talking about Prada and Gucci and ignoring it.”
She notes Marni, who sent out a look in the Ukrainian national colours of yellow and blue, as an exception: “It was so incredible. I really, really appreciated that.”
Feeling frustrated and unheard, she and her model friend Diana stood outside the Dolce & Gabbana show holding a Ukraine flag, “because I knew a lot of people were going to be there and I wanted them to listen to me. When you’re being ignored by people you feel like nothing.” The reaction, she said, was heartening, with people hugging them, and cheering: ‘Slava Ukraine!’
Zub has just arrived in Germany when we speak on Sunday. She’s staying with friends but plans to leave the following day for Poland, where she hopes to help her fellow countrymen escape from Ukraine and into Poland. “I would love to go home but if I’m at home I will not help my people. If I am outside in Poland, I can work, I can make money, I can at least do something.”
