The troubled fate of the modernist buildings erected during the socialist era is a serious problem in Kyiv, as it is in many cities in the region. With its autumn-winter collection, the PODYH clothing brand wants to draw attention to the value of iconic modernist buildings.
According to Daria Plaksyuk, the designer of PODYH, her brand is the intersection of architecture and fashion. Her new collection is inspired by the buildings in Kyiv erected between 1960 and 1980, the monochrome, grey-toned garments evoke, for example, the Vernadsky Library, the Salyut and Mir Hotels, the Memorial Park, the Physics Department of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, or the flying saucer-like building of the Institute of Information, which we have previously recreated in our SOC/MOD collection.
“I studied architecture, so it’s no surprise that I’m interested in the architecture of my hometown, Kyiv. In Kyiv, as elsewhere in Ukraine, caring for the afterlife of modernist works raised during the socialist era is a problem. Most monuments are in critical condition, others have been ruthlessly destroyed. My aim is to show their intrinsic beauty and value without bias, without referring to the period itself,” says Daria Plaksyuk, founder of the brand
While their new collection is dedicated to these buildings, the PODYH team is also keen to contribute to the restoration of the Memorial Wall in Memorial Park. The Memorial Wall is a 213-meter-long mural wall that takes viewers through myths and stories about human life to help them process grief. The wall took ten years to complete, but in early 1982 the Communist Party leaders had it concreted over because it did not meet the principles of socialist realism.
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