In Transit...
Since it was founded in 2010, we have featured the label DZHUS many times here on KOS.
The conceptual clothing and accessories brand created by Ukrainian designer and stylist Irina Dzhus has always charmed us with its vant-garde yet utilitarian approach, featuring innovative cuts and multi-purpose transformations.
Since Russia began its hellish and unconscionable war against Ukraine, Irina has been forced to flee her Homeland, taking refuge in the EU, working between Warsaw, Paris and Berlin, while her husband and business partner Anatolii Elgert has resumed DZHUS’ production in Kyiv. Since the war began, DZHUS has been donating 30% of its profit to Ukrainian animal rights organisations and the army.
They have paid homage to the plight of Ukrainian refugees in the creation of their Autumn Winter 2023 collection, which they have called Transit includes multifunctional pieces clad with pockets.
The metamorphosing garments in monochrome hues that are designed to transform from one item of clothing to another. Transformability of the looks pays tribute to the drastic changes all Ukrainians have faced in the onslaught of war. Having survived, they gained strength and become more future-oriented.
“The war has divided every Ukrainian’s life into ‘before’ and ‘after’. As I think of my countrymen and countrywomen, who have lost everything and had to embrace new hypostases of themselves in order to survive, I want to portray those superheroes and their inevitable change in a symbolic way. Millions of evacuating Ukrainians have been displaced having taken only the belongings they could carry. Many have preferred symbolic things to practical stuff, which is so touching”
Some of the outfits offer a transformation from an exaggeratedly utilitarian unisex silhouette into a fragile feminine look and vice versa. That is an allusion to the inevitable change of a personality under the influence of force majeure circumstances, often demanding heart-breaking decisions. The key piece of the collection is a bulletproof-vest-inspired overall turning into a colossal coat with a sheer hood, referring to an angel-protector of the unbreakable nation.
