How Bevza Became One of Ukraine’s Hottest Fashion Labels

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Before Ukraine’s Euromaidan protests in 2014 and Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022, which resulted in more than 53,000 civilian casualties in the past three years, According to a UN report —There was Bebuza. Founded in Kiev in 2006, Svitlana Bevza’s eponymous label was not reactionary in the political sense. Instead, Bevza saw a pressing need to improve the sterility of the Ukrainian fashion scene at the time. Kiev was and is not Paris, Milan, or Copenhagen, but since its launch nearly two decades ago, her fashion house has managed to introduce its signature aesthetic restraint (characterized by clean lines, unadorned silhouettes, and an emphasis on never-too-overpowering hues) into the country’s fashion world. Today, Bevza is known and purchased all over the world.

While the recent conflict in Bebuza’s home country hasn’t revitalized her brand, it has certainly refined her mission. “I felt an added responsibility to continue implementing symbols and codes that tell stories about Ukrainian culture,” Bevza told WWD. “It became very important.”

During the Soviet era, there was a deliberate process of erasure that tried to erase everything that was clearly Ukrainian. Bevza’s continuing goal is to show the world that there is more to the country’s cultural framework than the brightly embroidered “Vishvanka” shirts and the height-pleasing floral “Vinok”.

Bevza remembers hearing the news for the first time about President Putin’s plan to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine and immediately think, “I have to save it.” [her] Children. Like thousands of her countrymen, Bebuza fled, and the scene she recalls – just “two children and a suitcase” – feels a far cry from the glamor typically associated with the famous fashion designer.

Since then, her creative work at Bevza has included:[woke her] It is a tonic against uncertainty and a healing balm amidst many wounds.

Luckily, Bebuza was a builder from the beginning, so he leaned into what he did best. It was about forming a “dialogue with our generation” through each garment she designed, taking what she calls a “neoclassical” approach to clothing.

At one time, headlines about Ukraine accounted for 90 percent of newspaper front-page spreads, and it felt like everyone from political pundits to ordinary citizens in far-flung cities had something to talk about. So Bebuza decided to offer a more authentic lexicon through the aforementioned symbols subtly injected into her work.

“The wheat spike is the main symbol of Ukraine as a fertile land, which is now fighting for itself and for a beautiful harvest. In general, the wheat spike symbolizes life and abundance. We refer to it in many collections, accessories, textures and parts of our garments, such as the fastening on the back,” says Bevza.

Since 2022, many Ukrainians (Bevza among them) have been forced to emigrate, creating makeshift diasporas, often in places where they know no one at all. Bevza knew the loneliness that followed and wanted to be a source of something tangible for Ukrainian women to hold on to. It was like a wearable souvenir from home that said, “This is me, this is the place I love, and this is all I have left.”

Not surprisingly, sales of her spikelet jewelry skyrocketed. “Our spikelet jewelry became even more popular because millions of women who had to leave Ukraine needed something to ‘show their identity,’” says Bevza. “Many women told me, ‘If I walk around New York wearing spikelet earrings and a Ukrainian woman or man meets me, they will understand that I am from Ukraine.’ They needed a symbol to stay connected to their homeland.”

In this context, at a moment in history when destabilization and secession were the tools of the country bordering Ukraine, something as small and light as an earring could serve as a colloquial glue to unite a population under one national identity.

Of course, when the Bevza brand was born, the woman at its helm could not have predicted that someone offshore would come to rely so heavily on the implicit meaning behind Bevza’s offerings. According to Bevza, in 2006 there was little to talk about in Kyiv about the fashion industry. “What I saw on the Ukrainian runway was almost like an art show. I’m a practical person, so I thought that if we talk about ready-to-wear, it should be ready-to-wear. It should be wearable, applicable and combinable.”

They needed a symbol that would keep them connected to their homeland.

The 43-year-old now runs one of Ukraine’s most successful fashion houses, was scouted in the Vogue talent contest, won in 2013, and debuted at New York Fashion Week in September 2017. Bevza is available for purchase online and is also stocked at the flagship store in Kiev, The Frankie Shop in New York and Paris, the iconic Ukrainian Showroom in London, and Space Mew in Seoul. In-store as well as on premium online marketplaces like Moda Operandi, Revolve, Farfetch, and Ssense. The fresh new work features Pamela Anderson and Sandra Oh to Cynthia Nixon and jenna ortega.

But when Bebuza was a girl, she imagined things quite differently. “It was a very early dream of mine since childhood. When I was five years old, I made a sketch of a fashion house and told my mother that I wanted to own it. I thought it was literally a building where women get dressed. This sketch had a lot of hangers and rails with dresses on display.”

What about the women Bevza has in mind when he envisions new concepts and conceives season-specific collections? “I create work for women like me and you. Bebuza is not about a certain age or a certain body type. It’s about women who have the same attitude towards life: the way they treat people and this planet with grace, the way they make decisions, the way they live with elation.” [standard] For yourself. A woman named Bebuza is a successful, demanding and strong woman in her own right. Her strength comes from her self-contained mindset. This is why I am inspired by the women I meet. ”

Bevza’s work has also found its way into the hands of fashion industry veterans like Julie Gilhart, who helped launch the LVMH Prize for Emerging Talent, which eventually replaced the Vogue Talent Contest. Ms. Gilhart told her interviewees: Szczedlik ornament set — sold out many times over the years — and it was “nice.”

It was a very early dream of mine since childhood. When I was five years old, I drew a sketch of a fashion house and told my mother that I wanted to own it.

“Shchedryk” is the name of one of Ukraine’s most famous folk songs, in which a swallow heralds the new year by singing about the blessings that will bring blessings to the family with the arrival of spring. Unknown to many, “Szchedrik” was made into a Christmas song, “Carol of the Bells,” which featured English lyrics.

“The world that knows ‘Carol of the Bells’ may not know its original composer,” Bevza says of Mykola Leontovich. “Due to his pro-Ukrainian position, he [assassinated] Created by Russians in the 1920s. In the 20th century, many talents were destroyed by the Russian regime. I would like to convey the facts of history so that something like this does not happen again. ”

So, one crepe maxi dress, silk shirt, pinstriped blazer, and spikelet brooch at a time, Svitlana Bevza is rebelling against and attempting to redefine her country’s history. You won’t find any flashy logos or blue-and-yellow color palettes on Bevza. However, if you look deeper, you will find that the golden ornaments with the image of wheat tell the story of the entire country. It means being hard-working, hopeful, and refusing to be destroyed.

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meet the author

Stacia Datskowska Senior Commerce Writer at WWD. Previously, she worked as an assistant digital editor at ELLE DECOR, covering all things luxury, culture, and lifestyle through the lens of design. Over the past five years, her byline has appeared in USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, Teen Vogue, the Boston Globe, Food & Wine, and more. Before joining ELLE DECOR, Datskowska learned the ins and outs of e-commerce at Mashable, where she tested products, covered tent pole sale events, and curated gift guide roundups. She graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and international relations. Datskowska regularly reports on the most influential fashion designers of the 21st century who are worth shopping.