By Ukrainian Influence
Minimalistic brand — BEVZA — promotes elegance, sophistication, and a new vision for women of the world.
A lot can happen in six years. For BEVZA founder Svitlana Bevza, the fashion label has garnered worldwide attention, but just as any up-and-coming brand entering the scene, it started small. Launched as an atelier in 2006, the Kyiv, Ukraine native’s local label, eventually and successfully, entered international exhibitions by 2012. With a minimalistic approach, this Ukrainian label has solidified its own bid as a leading powerhouse.
The thirty-six-year-old entrepreneur and mother pays homage to her heritage, drawing inspiration from her first leading lady, her mother. At a very young age, four-year-old Svitlana sketched her own “fashion house,” “Literally two houses drawn with models and with wardrobes inside,” reminisced the now designer. What started out as a dream for what would later become Bevza spawned an interest in motivation; and a young Svitlana was forced to be resourceful. “[Ukraine] was pretty closed off from all the information abroad. All that we had were some foreign magazines or video clips of celebrities, so our style and the style of our mothers formed in a pretty specific way because of the deficit of foreign clothing. That is why it may be interesting to the other worlds because my style preference is formed by what I saw in those times.”
Inspired by figures and life events close to home, Svitlana did all that she could to establish herself as a designer. Marking her spot in history, Bevza became the first Ukrainian designers to win Vogue’s International Talent contest. Fully aware of the great potential on the road ahead, Svitlana realized taking the label abroad was the best way to go.
From Vogue recognition to New York Fashion Week, the journey to establishing Bevza in the eyes of international media only confirmed the brand's powerful influence. Built on elegance, Bevza gravitates toward styles that are not only wearable and feminine, but sophisticated. For Svitlana, hype and noise tend to surround the industry and the Ukrainian designer is rebooting ‘80’s and 90’s minimalistic pieces, silhouettes, and trends. “There are so many details that I use in Bevza, just remembering what women wore in Ukraine in the late ‘80s and ‘90s.” Their signature item, the white dress. Pure, angelic, and a clean slate. “We always do this item whatever it is – long or short, in the summer or winter, evening dress or casual – in every collection. White has become the main color in the label, very popular.”
Praising key roles played by her mother, specific details informing style in Ukraine is noticeable in the label's own design processes. “We had a bag, for instance, four or five seasons ago, which was literally like a bag from a supermarket. So, the inspiration is taken from the things that are so regular to the world, but that in our country was a deficit and made some value. There are also some hidden things in Bevza that go to Ukrainian roots. There is a great culture that was forgotten. It was hidden away. Now Ukrainians are starting to remember ethnical things and wearing it.”
Debuting Bevza’s 2019 Spring/Summer collection, Svitlana dedicated the designs to her newborn daughter. Arriving just in time for the collection’s inception, her daughter inspired the most feminine of all Bevza collections. While vacationing in Greece with her family, the new mother intrigued over the Mediterranean Sea, seashells and mussels, translating the collection into something more than just nautical accessories and shell bras to accent dresses, tops, and swimsuits; but rather a more powerful metaphor. “The shell keeps something inside. Be it, a pearl. Every woman, to me, is kind of a pearl. She is precious. There must be something inside the dress, some soul. So, I based this collection around that philosophy.”
Svitlana places past and present Ukrainian women at the forefront of her inspirational tactics. “[Ukrainians] love to dress up and they love to look sophisticated. America is always bright and open-minded, which I love, but countries that surround Ukraine are more conservative in styling, I think. As for the next collection, and the main thing in whatever I do, I’m trying to create things that can live a long life.” Investing in quality pieces is what Svitlana understands being the end result for female consumers. “There are a lot of now-classic silhouettes that are easily combined with other pieces from the wardrobe, and yet they have some sophisticated signature details, be it a very high-quality dress or trench coat that can be here in a year, or in five years, based on relevance and style,” exposed the designer.
Bevza has established itself as a sustainable luxury brand, even known to reuse stalks of fabrics and recycled plastic in collections, “I think that there is so much overproduction in our world,” expressed Svitlana. “I am always against fast life, fast food, and fast fashion.” On the latest fur band, Bevza has done away with animal harm and introduced an alternative take, “We launched the signature theme as fur coats, like buffers – there is no fur or feather inside – they are designed as iconic fur coats, classic from the ‘80s and ‘90s. We are very active in Ukraine against the fur farm movement and we promote very conscious ways to use fashion.”
“Fashion to me means possibility. Being elegant is much more than the ability to be dressed in a minimalistic way. It is a way of life, and it is an attitude,” encouraged Svitlana. “How you treat your family and friends, how you act and how you talk… Elegance is something that is forgotten. And in a good way, for me, it must come outside. So, we promote elegance as a way of life.”
Sophisticated, elegant, and sustainable are just the ways to describe this Ukrainian brand, but what Svitlana has built over the years has become a beacon of promise. For Bevza, the possibilities are endless and international eyes are watching.
