Andrei Tan has gained worldwide fame since 1999 for his fashion brand bearing his name. His collections have been presented in several countries and he has designed dresses for Miss Europe. Nataly Bolshakova is a talented Ukrainian interior designer who won an international design award in 2012. She leads a team that provides full interior design services. Lilia Poustovit is a fashion designer with brands found in several cities. She was elected president of the Ukrainian Fashion Syndicate and now heads the expert committee of the Ukrainian Fashion Council.

1. By Sofia Kasyan
9th form

2. Since November 1999, the brand Andre Tan, bearing the
name of its fashion designer Andre Tan who graduated
from the Central Saint Martins College of Art in London, has
gained worldwide notoriety and fame. Tan’s collections
have been presented in various countries
including Russia, Latvia, China, Bahrain, and Germany.
Working together with Roberto Cavalli, he has designed
dresses for the participants of the Miss Europe 2006 beauty
pageant, while German fashion critics have described Andre
Tan as one of the best women’s prêt-a-porter brand. Tan’s
collections stand out for being both fashionable and
comfortable to wear and for being made in Ukraine.

3. Nataly Bolshakova is one of Ukraine’s most talented
interior designers. In 2012, she won the SBID International
Design Award for her House on the Sea. As a team leader
of Nataly Bolshakova Interior Design, she provides her
customers with services to help them create the space of
their dreams according to their budget and time-frame.
The team members do not limit themselves to the design
creation but accompany their customers through every
step of the project until its final implementation. As such,
their philosophy is based on quality recommendations,
and a follow-up of the entire process to avoid stress,
negative feelings and wasted money.

4. Lilia Poustovit is the fashion designer behind the brands
TM POUSTOVIT and Poustovit for Atelier 1. Her collections
can be found in various geographical locations, including
Kiev, London, Seoul, Tokyo, Saint Petersburg and Moscow.
At the inauguration of the Ukrainian Fashion Syndicate in
2004, she was elected president. In 2008, when the
syndicate turned into the Ukrainian Fashion Council, she
was made head of the Expert Committee. Her originality lies
in immersing herself into the youth subculture to create
collections with a young Ukrainian soul.

5. In 2003, Nota Bene and
Karavay was founded by
bringing the Ukrainian company
Nota Bene and the fashion
designer Iryna Karavay together.
Karavay’s originality is at the
core of the brand’s philosophy
which advocates the mutual use
of art and fashion to create
emotional clothing ‘for women
with active living position who
are able to navigate among the
mass uniformity of things and
make their choices.’ In the
deluxe line, handmade
decorations are used on every
collection, making every single
piece of clothing and accessory
look like a work of art.

6. Viktoria Gres, the artist who owns a fashion brand and an
interior design company at the same name, offers high-
quality services and creative clothing that find inspirational
roots in history. Her outfits are personalized and are very
close to being artworks. She believes that the brand’s
uniqueness comes from her use of antique lace in unusual
ways together with vintage textiles to create contemporary
and romantic collections. Established in 1993, the fashion
brand has four different lines: Victoria Gres by GRES, Victoria
Gres Couture, Victoria Gres DENIM and the accessories line. At
the same time, Gres is also very active in developing Gres
décor, again providing a historical touch.

7. Today, Oksana Karavanska is one
of the most creative, famous and in
demand Ukrainian fashion designers,
and is an active member of the
Ukrainian Fashion Council Expert
Committee. In 1997, when her first
boutique was opened, Oksana
Karavanska became a registered
trademark. Since 1998, her bright
and extravagant collections have
been displayed at Ukrainian fashion
weeks and in 2002, she won the
Crystal Silhouette Competition Grand
Prix for the dress of the year. She
was also named best designer of the
year by the Ukrainian Centre of
Fashion Development that year.
Karavanska, fond of using old-
fashioned lace, always remembers to
give a local touch to her collections.

8. Born in Odessa, Alexander
Gapchuk is one of the leading
Ukrainian fashion designers
specializing in menswear, focusing
on men’s suiting more specifically.
Since 2002, his collections have been
represented at both Ukrainian and
Russian Fashion Weeks. Drawing
inspiration from classic collections of
costume designers, troubadours and
medieval knights, Gapchuk’s work is
colourful and bold, using materials
typical of street-style fashion in an
innovative way. Having been trained
to create women’s attire, he felt
curious and inspired to add a touch
of female elegance to his men’s
collections.

10. He was born on June 2, 1959
year in village Yaroshivka,
Chernigov area on Ukraine in a
family of the military. He studied at
art school two years. Then he has
been expelled for bad behaviour.
The artist works in art workshops
at the Rivne organisation of the
National union of artists of Ukraine
since 1989.
He was the participant of
regional and national art
exhibitions (from 1990). Personal
exhibitions - in Rivne (1990, 1994,
1999, 2000, 2004, 2006,
2007), Lutsk (1996,
1998), Kiev(2000, 2001,
2006), Lvov (2003), Lublin (Poland,
2004), Preshov, (Slovakia, 2006).
The participant of 2nd International
art open-air which was devoted to
the Day of Preshov city, Slovakia (on
May, 28th - on June, 9th, 2006).

11. Born on October 25, 1953 in
Podvirne, Chernivts Oblast, in
the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet
Union is a Ukrainian painter. His
works depict Ukrainian
landscapes and urban views, or
draw on the traditions of
Ukrainian iconography.
Buryak graduated from
the Ivan Trush College of Arts in
1974, and from the Lviv Academy
of Arts in 1979. He is a member
of the Union of Artists of Ukraine.
In 1991 he won the National
Union of Artists Prize (Kiev,
1991), and was recognised in the
international "New Names"
awards in Moscow in 1992.
Buryak today lives and works
in Lviv, Ukraine, where he runs a
private art school.

12. Born on April 9, 1962 is a
Ukrainian filmmaker and visual
artist. He is a co-founder of the
creative association Masoch Fund.
Ihor Podolchak was voted as
one of the 10 most prominent
Ukrainian filmmakers by Forbes
Ukraine in 2014.
The artist's book Jacob Bohme
was awarded as World's Best Book
(Bronze Medal) by Stiftung
Buchkunst Frankfurt am Main at
Frankfurt Book Fair. One of his 24
personal exhibitions was the first
art exhibition ever to be held in
space, at space station Mir on
January 25, 1993. Artworks of
Podolchak can be found in 26
museums and public collections
worldwide.

13. Sand performance was suggested by
her husband. Initially, Simonova was
unsure, but she decided to try it in the
absence of other viable options to
improve their financial situation. When
tests with beach and river sands proved
both unsuitable, Simonova's husband
began researching better options on
the internet. He sold his printing
equipment to buy 3 kilograms of
expensive volcanic sand.
Simonova began experimenting with
the medium at night, after serving as a
full-time mother throughout the day.
She found it challenging, but persisted
in spite of early impulses to give up.
On December 4, 2009, Simonova
presented the first Sand Picture
Exhibition. In 2010, she founded an
International Cultural Center "Sand
Club" in the Crimean city of Yevpatoria.

14. Since the late 1980s, Marina Skugareva
has participated regularly in exhibitions of
modern art in Kiev, Moscow, Warsaw, Basel,
Berlin, Odense. Her works are the part of a
"new wave" - a movement which
programmatically attributes its art to
a postmodernism, updating the traditional
Ukrainian art by its esthetics.
Her early works («Nocturnal Kiev»
(1988), «Der Vogel» (1990), «Poison Ivy»
(1992)) are close
to transavantgarde painting. There is a
characteristic technique which appears
already in Skugareva's first picturesque
works—the embroidered fragment—a bird, a
flower, a human face.
In 2007 Marina Skugareva presented the
project of drawings «Good Housekeepers». It
develops the subject of a naked figure in
space, detecting new accents. In the majority
of drawings Marina uses texts from women's
Internet-chats which, being imposed on the
naked figures, turn into tattoos.