Does fashion matter when there is a war on? Not much, a designer says, but a Ukrainian fashion editor disagrees

‘In a time like this, fashion loses its relevance,’ Balenciaga designer says. But Vogue Ukraine’s fashion director believes fashion does have a role to play

Looking back, New York Fashion Week was cancelled after 9/11, yet Dior didn’t hesitate to debut its New Look in the ashes of World War II

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Demna Gvasalia (right, with Kim Kardashian), who wore a T-shirt in the colours of the Ukrainian flag at the Balenciaga show in Paris in March 2022. Photo: Instagram

Published: 4:15am, 30 Mar 2022Updated: 8:07am, 30 Mar 2022

How important is fashion during a time of crisis and war? The short answer is not very – and even major designers would agree.

“In a time like this, fashion loses its relevance and its actual right to exist. Fashion week feels like some kind of absurdity,” said Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia in his press notes at his Paris show, which took place 10 days after the invasion of Ukraine. His country, Georgia, was invaded by Russian forces in 2008.

Gvasalia considered cancelling, in fact, “but then I realised that cancelling this show would mean giving in, surrendering to the evil”.

Vogue Ukraine’s fashion director, Vena Brykalin – a man whose family is trapped in Odesa and who cannot himself return home – believes fashion does have a role to play and that Gvasalia brought awareness to the plight of his countrymen through his moving show, which was dedicated to Ukrainian refugees.

Models demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine outside the Prada fashion show during Milan Fashion Week. Photo: DPA

“I thought the Balenciaga show was stunning,” he says, on the phone from Paris. “As an editor and a Ukrainian citizen, it was very moving, and put him in a good light and other brands in a more damning light. Fashion has such a loud voice that industry leaders have to take a stance on what is happening.