Behind the Scenes

Getting ready for the upcoming Ukrainian Fashion Week SS25, which will take place in Kyiv from September 1 to 4, the UFW team reached out to the participating brands with a question: How is your brand coping with the full-scale invasion? Lilia Litkovska, designer and founder of LITKOVSKA, shared her experience with the editors.

As of February 2022, our brand was actively working on several important projects. We were conducting a large-scale photoshoot for the new season that later appeared in Vogue Czechoslovakia and planning the launch of the ArtCode.ua project. For the latter, we collected contacts of over 500 Ukrainian artists, whose works were digitally showcased in Paris. It was a time of significant achievements for our brand, and we had ambitious plans for the future.

The full-scale war that began on February 24 changed everything abruptly. Many of our plans had to be postponed, and some were canceled altogether. Despite everything, I came back to Ukraine at the beginning of the war, and we managed to implement several projects, including a major collaboration with Selfridges, which we completed in a month and a half.

The first days of the war were extremely difficult. The team scattered to different places: some volunteered, and others moved to safer regions. I ended up in Paris, where I organized support actions for Ukraine during Paris Fashion Week. We created an installation that drew attention to the horrors of the war and supported Ukrainian artists.

At the Kornit Fashion Week show in London, I came out with a Help Mariupol and Azovstal Now sign, while on the catwalk there were models in military berets, balaclavas, and bulletproof vests. At that time, the fighting for Mariupol was still going on and it was important to constantly remind foreigners about it.

Despite all the difficulties, we managed to keep most of the team together. Moving to Lviv, we found a new production facility thanks to the support of a major wedding dress manufacturer Milla Nova. This allowed us to continue our work and support those on our team who had lost their homes.

The most challenging part at the beginning of the war was ensuring the safety of the team and maintaining our production capabilities. Throughout the entire period of the war, the biggest challenge remains the financial stability of the brand. However, thanks to the support of our partners and clients, we managed to stay afloat and thrive.

Customer demand has changed: there is now an interest in national and ethnic motifs, as well as themes of war, nostalgia, and migration. The war has also influenced our creative component, forcing us to rethink many things: LITKOVSKA has always been about linking our heritage to modern culture and art, so we’ve created several collections and installations that highlight this particular topic.

We are actively working on entering foreign markets. Despite the difficulties, the war has increased interest in Ukrainian products abroad – we are currently facing a spike in interest from our Japanese audience. The brand has also participated in social campaigns, supporting various initiatives.

For us, the key is team support, flexibility in decision-making, and the ability to adapt to new realities. We believe in victory, continue to fight for the future of our brand, and do everything possible to preserve and develop our business.