A Luminous Debut on the Runway of Ukrainian Fashion Week

This season, Ukrainian brand AMELINA unveiled its first collection on the grand stage of Ukrainian Fashion Week — and what a debut it was. The SS26 line, poetically titled Veil of Terra, unfolds like a dialogue between art and craftsmanship: the dreamlike sensuality of the Pre-Raphaelites entwined with the quiet authority of classic tailoring.

Creative director Maria Yakovenko looks to the romantic heroines of Rossetti, Waterhouse, and Burne-Jones, translating their wistful gazes and flowing drapery into evening gowns spun from diaphanous chiffon, capes that seem to dissolve into air, and silk blouses baring shoulders with a languid grace. Lace in the palest greens whispers of Millais’ Ophelia, while elongated ribbons, sweeping trains, and masterful drapery conjure the medieval reveries so cherished by the Brotherhood.

Yet the collection’s magic lies not only in its fabrics and flourishes. The silhouettes themselves carry the weight of history.

“Low waistlines are so often linked to the flapper spirit of the 1920s,” Yakovenko reflects. “But if you study the women painted by Waterhouse or Edmund Leighton, you’ll find echoes of the same shape. In the late Middle Ages, women wore gowns with dropped waists, cinched by belts of leather or precious metals — a lineage the Pre-Raphaelites adored.”

The second act of AMELINA SS26 shifts from the painterly to the sartorial, celebrating not art but the noble discipline of British bespoke. With her atelier-honed precision, Yakovenko crafts sharply cut suits and coats in dense wools, their pared-back lines and sophisticated tones destined to outlast seasons and trends alike. Among the standout pieces: a tailored jacket with a sash-like belt, draped across the body in the manner of an order ribbon, its train cascading with quiet drama.

“I believe true elegance is born in the cut and in the detail,” says Yakovenko. “That’s what transforms a blazer, a shirt, or a pair of trousers into the piece you instinctively reach for, the one that carries you with confidence.”

With Veil of Terra, AMELINA has not merely presented a collection — she has staged a vision: a world where romanticism meets rigor, and where clothing transcends fashion to become art in motion.