I have been slightly obsessed with these traditional Ukrainian embroidered dresses and tunics – known as vyshyvankas – for a while now after seeing Anna Dello Russo and various other fashionistas wearing them on Instagram.
The dresses have become a cult fashion item after being featured on Instagram by Ukrainian designer Vita Kin, who sells them exclusively through social media. They have become almost impossible to get hold of, and even if you can hunt them down they are ridiculously expensive (£1000 upwards).
The range will be available at Matches for A/15/16 – so obviously will be available in August, cos that’s when the fashion industry thinks the summer starts, as Amanda said yesterday!!
You can sign up for updates now, but I am currently trawling Etsy and eBay for original (cheaper) alternatives and will let you know when I find some good ones – as we all know that one has to be very careful with ethnic dresses at our age. But personally I have never let the thought of looking like a small Greek grandmother or Italian nona, put me off.
Love the parrot.
I have a vintage embroidered peasant blouse that I shall dust off for an old woman of the steppes look.
Sarah echoes my thoughts in that the designs are very retro looking. I don’t have enough knowledge of Ukrainian culture to judge if they are authentic or a modern twist but they certainly bring the late 60s and early 70s to mind. Also love the parrot and, particularly, the red top the model’s wearing.
Great post and gorgeous pictures. Would love to collaborate for a similar post on Indian ethnic wear from famous designers such as Anita Dongre, Masaba, SVA, Suneet Varma , Ritu Kumar and many others. Let me know. Keep posting