Ukrainian and Kyrgyz designers bring Fashion Show to AUCA

Ukrainian and Kyrgyz designers bring Fashion Show to AUCA

April 21, 2016

Ukranian designer Irina Limarenko (from the brand FOBERINI) and Kyrgyzstani designer Tolgonay Kerimkulova (from the brand BAIRA) exhibited their respective collections at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Back to the Future, New Life of Traditional Costume, a fashion show celebrating a marriage of contemporary fashion and traditional national motifs. The designers cited the spouse of the Ukranian Ambassador and Kyrgyz model Cholpon Joldosheva as their inspirations for the show. The event itself was organized by a joint effort from the Embassy of Ukraine in Kyrgyzstan and AUCA.

The show was the first time the Ukranian designers had travelled to Kyrgyzstan, the first stop on their fashion tour. The tour continues on to Strasbourg, France and then Toronto, Canada. Bishkek was the only city they visited in Central Asia.

The show was true to its name, Back to the Future. New Life of Traditional Costume: both collections interwove embroidery, motifs, ornaments, and cuts of national Ukrainian and Kyrgyz costumes with modern-day women’s wear. The designers used only natural fabric and handmade embroidery, further connecting their pieces to the traditional clothing of Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.

Notwithstanding their traditional overtones, the outfits retained a modern style and relevance. Traditional embroidery was at home in Limarenko’s and Kerimkulova’s dresses, blouses, jackets, and skirts, and could easily become a welcome addition to any woman’s wardrobe, regardless of their ethnicity.

Designers mentioned both the Kyrgyz and Ukrainian brands are quite popular abroad. One can find Baira and Foberini clothes in the US, France, Spain, Canada, Great Britain, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia and Kazakhstan, and not only on people from the Kyrgyz or Ukrainian diasporas.

According to Saltanat Samatova, the evening’s host, the spirit of a nation is expressed through its national costume. The show lit up AUCA’s forum with a colorful and creative atmosphere paired with National Ukrainian and National Kyrgyz music. On a makeshift catwalk, Ukrainian and Kyrgyz women took turns showing off the designers’ clothing.

Limarenko was very thankful for the hosts of the event, “I saw only friendship and assistance from the Kyrgyz designers and, generally, from everyone in Kyrgyzstan. We didn’t find any zealous treatment from our Kyrgyz colleagues. When we needed to iron our costumes, they let us go ahead and iron first even though they also had to get ready for the show. It was a very pleasant experience.”

Limarenko also thanked the Ukrainian Ambassador, Nikolay Doroshenko, AUCA President, Andrew Wachtel, Natalya Doroshenko, and Cholpon Joldosheva. Without their support, she said, “this show wouldn’t have been so luxurious.”

Limarenko went on to say, “our festive evening took place thanks to these people and their professional teams. It is difficult to overestimate the work done by the Ukrainian embassy, which has undertaken such an important event for every Ukrainian and for Ukraine as a whole. Their support inspires and encourages further development. The American University of Central Asia has been the discovery of my trip. It is a totally new university, free to grow and develop individuals. It is deservedly considered the best university in Central Asia.”

The Ukrainian designer also strongly liked Tolgonai Kerimkulova’s collection. Limarenko liked a few other designers’ work so much, she said she would like to purchase them for herself.

 

«Ukrainian clothes are esteemed overseas» - Irina Limarenko

Will you use any elements of traditional Kyrgyz dress in your future collections?

We [FOBERINI] won’t use Kyrgyz patterns for our brand, because we use only Ukrainian ornaments. Our message is a promotion of Ukrainian traditions—a promotion of our rich culture to the masses. Nonetheless, I do want to buy a couple of clothes from Kyrgyz designers for myself. I fell in love with a skirt, the one with a bottom decorated with Kyrgyz national patterns, as well as the jacket Tolgonay had on when she walked out on stage. They are very beautiful. If I have time I’ll buy them. I will happily wear them!

Why did you choose to ground your brand in traditional Ukrainian dress?

This idea came to me a long ago time ago, as far back as 2008. While touring my work Iraq, I saw how local people treated their national clothing—their traditions. The country had just begun to rehabilitate out of its ruins after the war. I was invited to a barbeque and was warned that they would be expecting me to come dressed in their national garb. I was surprised! Go to a barbeque in national wear? In any case, I didn’t go to the event dressed accordingly. But, sure enough, absolutely every guest was wearing the national costume! After that, I revised my attitude towards national and cultural traditions—both others’ and my own. I realized I had disrespected the hosts. So, I came up with this idea to reignite and cultivate a love for Ukranian national clothing, embroidery, and traditions back home. Naturally, it is difficult to dress modern Ukrainian men and women in completely traditional outfits, so I decided to repackage them as up-to-date, stylish, fashionable, and comfortable pieces that would save our national values at the same time.

How popular is your “modern national clothing” among Ukrainians?

Take, for instance, last summer. We had a three-month queue for our clothes, and we had orders from several different countries. It is nice to see that our clothes—clothes we didn’t try to adapt to anyone else’s tastes—are still interesting and valuable to people of different nationalities.

 

Cat Woman and Kyrgyz patterns – Tolgonai Kerimkulova

I make clothes that can be worn by contemporary women, be them Kyrgyz, Ukrainian or American. I want people who see my clothes to recognize at once that they are Kyrgyz national clothing. To accomplish this, I use velvet, silk threads, as well as handmade and half-handmade embroidery made with the tambour stitch technique. You can discern ornaments of the tush kiyiz (a thick felt carpet with abundant patterns) in the patterns and color combinations of my clothes. In the Kanykei collection, I wanted to emphasize the force of character and femininity in Kyrgyz women as well as the beauty of the Kyrgyz national dress. Kyrgyzstanis love their traditions, clothing or otherwise. Recently, a lot of new Kyrgyzstani companies have started manufacturing clothes featuring our national colors. Now, we are receiving extravagant orders more frequently from our show business stars. For example, we made the “Cat Woman” dress for the young singer, Nurzada. It is a tight-fitting leather costume with added elements from Kyrgyz national patterns. She was really happy with the result—the costume looked very cool on screen.

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