ODESSA FASHION WEEK – FW 2018-2019
This big event started with conferences on trends, innovation, wholesale, retail, social media and new fashion business models!
Digital News Fashion was present in this new OFW season that was held from 23 to 25 March 2018. The city of Odessa welcomed us with some cold spring days, a light winter breeze in the mornings and icy streets at night; however, the charming atmosphere of the Concert Hall “Victory Garden” – “Sady Pobedy”, gave us a warm welcome and unforgettable moments in midst a great and highly enjoyable fashion atmosphere.
OFW is the big event highly anticipated by Ukrainian fashionistas and their foreign guests. It celebrates the Ukrainian fashion system that has sprung from the inspiring previous years, in which it cemented relationships and exchanges between the members of a generation of designers, manufacturers, artists and people who love the fashion industry that has been defining OFW’s image in the world and put it on the map of international culture.
OFW is an adjective, used here as a noun to indicate the complex set of traits, styles and atmospheres that define Ukrainian culture in all its forms and expressions.
Zarina Semenyuk has shaped the image of Ukrainian fashion: she is the protagonist of the creative period of designers and the industrial manufacture of quality clothing that hold strong in comparisons with the fashion systems outside of Ukraine.
Rather than following a chronological order of style and tendencies, OFW explores a galaxy of themes in an attempt to present the most significant expressions and defining qualities of experimenting and new designers, delving into the realms of design, art, photography and publishing. A landscape of creativity springing from an open-ended research that responds to the stimuli of the time, always at work in fashion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKZLuD7lJJY
TRADE FASHION ZONE
The OFW offers accessible exposure to industry professionals: the so-called Trade Fashion Zone is a prestigious exhibition, where buyers, guests and people who are involved in the fashion circle enjoy seeing the different manufacturers and producers who show the new trends and fashions for the upcoming season. International buyers and wholesalers take the opportunity to gain an overview of the fashion for the coming season, to compare offers and to establish contacts.
From 23 to 25 March 2018, it was the exposition of accessories that are increasingly more present in each collection, with footwear, belts, hats, fur accessories, bracelets, handbags, scarves and luxury goods, throw-overs and much more, giving life to an extremely rich offer for completing all looks. Here were present: Ellen Muhlberg, Vintages, Gi-Bijou, Alena, Silvahi, Yanina Sergeyeva, and many others.
OFW also put on the stage artists that made us enjoy with their talents, with Anastasia Bukina and Alex Ilvakhin opening the OFW. Then there was the performance of the band JULINOZA, which features innovative sound, fantasy musical images and conceptuality. JULINOZA is a vocalist and composer duo, the author of texts and arrangements – Julia Zaporozhets – and one of the most extraordinary drummers of Ukraine – Igor Chebotarev. Together they opened up to us a world of new music, in which the cinematography, the breathing of alternative currents of jazz, trip-hop and electronics were palpable.
Anna Morgun then performed three of her beautiful songs – besides being a rock singer, she is a designer and the founder of her own brand “Anna Morgun”.
WOMEN AND MEN BRAND FASHION STYLES
This season was dedicated to women who showed their stylish appearance that seems to spring from one’s inner self, and that is precisely why the audience liked it: the different types of colors, cuts with an original style and with varied materials for each collection. Dresses of the young women were with a variation of colored fabric and looking suitable and elegant for every occasion.
Women’s collection is designed for women who are increasingly more aware of the changes in style that are taking the lead in a younger and more contemporary world.
The Ukrainian designers understood that this season’s inspiration springs precisely from this concept and from the ongoing innovation derived from the same.
The different collections partially combined this way of interpreting new looks with outfits that are modern but always accompanied by European references, such as the patterns garnered from the archives of the historic Como silk factories, and which give life to a romantic, chic proposal, further emphasized by knitwear in precious yarns (like cashmere, yak and mohair), endowing the wearer with even more femininity and uniqueness.
The numerous styles of pants and trousers have a look that is both highly tailored and refined. The models with a higher waistline exalt the physicality of the wearer. Midi skirts with embroidery and leather inserts enrich the collection, giving women the chance to create their own, more relaxed style.
Among the Ukrainian designers were: MISS DM; ELEN GODIS;N`ART; ELLEN MUHLBERG; ALINA KRAVETS; KRISTINA AS; VINTAGES; DI LEVRIERO; AUTOGRAPH; PLAY FASHION & MARINA MARIBELLA; MILLENIUM ALLIANCE & VIVA VICTORIYA; PINKDREAMS by TANYA VASINA; CANDY KID; MAIN PEOPLE and ROYAL FAMILY by KRISTINA AS; SMOSK; LOLA ZAVADSKAYA; OLESYA LISA; KAVO13; ZAHARA; LOUISE ORLOVSKAYA; KAYA; KUZINA; WORKSHOP Goose; KANGAROO KIDS.
Among the foreign guests were: ROMANO XI (Switzerland), SANJA V DESIGN (Slovenia), ALEKSANDRA SEWERYNIAK (POLAND), UMED KUCHKALIEV (TAJIKISTAN), YANINA SERGEYEVA (BELARUS) VALERIA KRYSA (BELARUS), MARGO style (BELARUS), ELENA BANNAIA (MOLDOVA), VLASCO CRISTINA (MOLDOVA), and JULIA FILIMON (MOLDOVA).
For some seasons now, many brands have chosen OFW to present their men’s, women’s and children’s collections together, so in this edition, too, we saw a variety of smart casual sportswear lines in chic and hi-tech fabrics for adults and children alike. They brought out other forms of expression, between big-name brands and new entries, in the spirit of contagion that characterizes modern fashion.
BACKSTAGE
