“As the the Icy wind bit through her ragged sack cloth cape, Nastenka refused to trouble Morozko, the kindly Woodman, when he offered her the warmth of his coat. Instead, she gripped the hood of her cape, picked up her long skirts, and thanked him for his gracious offer…little knowing that Morozko was in fact, Father Frost.”

This is the prologue of the newest collection by Ekaterina Kukhareva (kukhareva.com), a young Ukrainian designer rewrites her Skazka, fairytale, where the protagonist Nastenka, an eastern Cinderella, is already a princess.

Morozko is the tale that inspired her to realize her fall/winter collection, in which the artist offers all the ancient fable female figures the possibility of redemption.

Nastenka and Ekaterina have two things in common: the eastern Europe heritage and most of all the ability to knit. Her knitwear collection highlights the charm and the sinuous femininity and underline a woman who is delicate and sensitive but at the same time passionate and aware of her roots as well as her future path. Determined, self-confident and with unmistakable grace, this woman shows herself in every single appointment that life designed for her, wearing dresses with prints that recall natural landscapes and forests of Ukraine. It is probably her English education that gave her the courage to flip a traditional imagery. Graduated at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design where she obtained a BA degree
in Textiles, Ekaterina uses software to design her drawings before sewing them on fabric, using the best quality Italian yarns.

Innovation and tradition come together in short jackets and hooded capes (the typical trimmings of a medieval Russia), which cover column dresses, short skirts and cocktail dresses. Each dress seems to be hand painted and features a color palette ranging from red to pink to blue. A winter in pastel shades which enhances the traditional feminine grace of a princess, ready to become a queen.

Text by Anna Volpecilli