ZOOT VISITS KIEV FASHION DAYS
The Zoot team were recently invited to Kiev, Ukraine for the second edition of it”s international fashion week, Kiev Fashion Days. The city itself was great and took us completely by surprise…
The Mystetskiy Arsenal was a fantastic, extremely spacious venue in the heart of the city; an old renovated weapons Factory located opposite one of the most important church complexes in Kiev, Lavra. The space was divided into lecture areas, catwalks and an exhibition space for upcoming designers with “young talent” and concept stores where both national and international artists were invited to exhibit.
The space was also transformed into a catwalk open to the public called “off schedule: the pretenders” allowing all visitors a piece of the action while showcasing some interesting designers and labels from across the Ukraine and Europe. All visitors at the event were surprisingly cool and fashionable, as well as being very nice people, while the fashion shows provided a strong mix of local Ukrainian designers with Russian, Italian and London based designers on the main catwalk.
'The Pretenders' catwalk 
'The Pretenders' catwalk 
'The Pretenders' catwalk The event was topped off with cool parties each night, including The Libertines front-man and solo artist Pete Doherty performing at the closing party on the Saturday night. The weekend was busy; even frantic at times as we tried to take in as much of the fashion culture as possible while squeezing in time for some local and traditional culture too; we experienced fantastic food, nice restaurants and exquisite architecture alongside a contemporary international event which we predict will continue to flourish with each coming season and has the perfect opportunity to develop into a unique fashion week with a stunning location and local heritage to online casinos match.
Pete Doherty, Saturday 26th March 
Closing Party, Saturday 26th March Be sure to watch out for the 3rd Edition of Kiev Fashion Days in October this year and keep following our upcoming reports for reviews of our favourite shows and newly discovered Ukrainian designers. We also managed to squeeze in an editorial shoot on location in Kiev featuring some of the designers showcased at Kiev Fashion Days, so look out for that coming soon this week…
By Lucy Mclean
Backstage at Valery Kovalska 
Backstage at Svetlana Tegin 
Backstage at Vitaliy Pavlishyn 
Backstage at La Maison du Couturier (Italy) 
Backstage at La Maison du Couturier (Italy) 
Backstage at Ada Zanditon (UK) 
'Manufactory' shoes in exhibition area 
Jeffrey Michael (right) with one of his creations
