With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of subsiding and Russian forces continuing with drone attacks and missile strikes on infrastructure facilities, organizers of Ukrainian Fashion Week are already exploring alternative countries for designers to show their collections in February.

The seeming disconnect or contrast between destruction and fashion may appear to be glaring to outsiders, but Ukrainian designers and entrepreneurs are keeping with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s dictum that business owners and employers alike continue to keep their businesses going as an act of retaliation and to maintain as much normalcy as possible. His wife, Olena Zelenska, continues to champion the fashion industry and the design community.

Determined to maintain their businesses, operations and employee bases as best they can despite the ongoing onslaught, 43 Ukrainian brands made the latest installment of Ukrainian Fashion Week international. Thanks to the support of nine other national fashion weeks, starting with Malta Fashion Week in July, these designers and companies were able to spotlight their spring collections on the runway or virtually. Having just completed its 51st season, UFW is the oldest fashion week in Eastern and Central Europe, according to the organization’s head of international communications Yelyzaveta Ushcheka.

Instead of celebrating its 25-year anniversary this year as anticipated, Ukrainian designers and brands have been…