How did you become interested in fashion design?
As a 5-year-old in post-Soviet Ukraine, I was mesmerized by my Granny's vintage patternmaking magazines with glamorous illustrations that looked like a portal into a parallel dimension. Since then, I've been passionate about fashion, aiming to become a designer until I finally succeeded.
What's your favorite thing about being a fashion designer?
Being a fashion creator is quite a life hack, as it allows me to express my values and social narratives that I consider important to communicate through a process I meditate on and a result I admire. By contributing design innovations and humanist statements to the industry, I obtain overwhelming fulfillment and a firm realization of my life mission.
What's your design philosophy?
In the era of overproduction, a designer must be responsible by, ideally, only launching products that are innovative and truly authentic, or at least, adhering to a cruelty-free and low-waste production system. With the DZHUS transformer outfits, made to order from vegetarian-friendly materials, I declare that eco-oriented fashion opens an astonishing variety of self-expression opportunities.
How do you choose colors for your designs?
I consciously opt out of colors to allow maximum space for shapes and structures, which are the key factors in the DZHUS concepts. While refraining from the chromatic spectrum, I incorporate an extended range of functions in my designs. Each piece also encodes specific senses.
What's your favorite type of clothing to design?
DZHUS pieces cannot be classified within the standard wardrobe vocabulary as they transform radically, shifting from one category to another: trousers become a dress, a headpiece turns into a bag or a skirt, and so on. Working against assortment conformism is great fun.
What's your favorite season to design for?
A conscious approach is crucial to me. By designing DZHUS products as multipurpose items, I prolong their life since they can be used in numerous ways and interact with each other, generating endless styling combinations. Besides that, many DZHUS garments are zero-waste, and we do not keep any pre-made stock. Vegetarian-friendly and ethical production are our a priori values. Finally, our customers receive their orders packed in a transformer tote that can also be worn as a tank top or a mini dress.
What's your favorite fashion decade?
I'm deeply into multidisciplinary lifestyle collaborations, uniting conceptual fashion with avant-garde art, smart object design with conscious self-care, architecture of tomorrow with niche perfumes, eco food, or experimental music. When it comes to future-oriented and sustainable hedonism, categories and solutions merge with each other, and this DNA-shaping synthesis is especially precious.
