Kiev-based designer Svitlana Bevza made her debut at Paris Fashion Week last fall due to complications stemming from the war in Ukraine, but she was happy to be back Stateside for spring.
Even before the conflict, she has made a habit of weaving leitmotifs from her homeland into her shows and this season placed on each front-row seat was a piece from her capsule collection of jewelry inspired by the kalyna berry — a collaboration with Mastercard, the proceeds from which will help finance rehabilitation programs for injured children.
For the clothes, Bevza took the marigold flower as her inspiration. “In Ukraine, it symbolizes a mother’s love and revival,” she said backstage. “I had these flowers in my apartment. My grandfather and I planted the seeds once a year and when war started we couldn’t do it anymore.”
She kept the tradition alive here, using them for her very first print on layered slip dresses in crushed viscose, which punctuated a lineup of monochromatic black and white looks. The show opener was a beaded tank top worn over pleated pants with slits along the leg, revealing micro-shorts underneath. Elsewhere, bust details sexed up otherwise clinical looking separates in Japanese cotton, while drop-waist skirts, which are trending on the runways, drew inward toward the hem, looking less like marigolds and more like upside-down tulips.
A minimalist through-and-through, Bevza’s silky pajama-style tailoring had a whiff of ‘90s Helmut Lang, which is back in the fashion zeitgeist this season under new creative director Peter Do.
