My childhood dream - SAYYA by Luba Makarenko

Luba gives us a great example of how important it is to believe in your inspiration. Her brand, and this collection, represents a woman who rebels against stereotypes and gender roles. Interesting color matches. Sophisticated perspective.

How did your fashion career start?

Fashion was my childhood dream. I made my first steps at school by altering my mother’s old items, then bought clothes at flea markets and upgraded them. When it was time to choose a career, fashion design was not popular in my country. My parents wanted me to study architecture or interior design and I even took preparation courses for interior design. But at the time of entrance exams, I just went straight into fashion design faculty and told the parents after I was admitted. After graduating I worked with private clients for 2 years, made small collections and gradually set up my studio. In 2012 I showcased my first collection at Ukrainian Fashion Week. And my second collection was presented in Paris.

What inspires you the most?

Emotions. Any theme that comes into life comes out of emotional states that I’m going through, inspired by people, architecture, textures, state of mind.

What's the concept of the latest collection?

Our Fall/Winter collection is a story of a good girl who got into bad company. She rebels against stereotypes and gender limits, adding masculine silhouettes to her wardrobe. She mixes wide shoulder blazers with fitted lacquer skirts, pantsuits with loose-fitting shirts. The brand kept its signature carry-over bright basics with the palette of fuchsia, mustard, terracotta and violet.

How does the place you live in affect your design?

The place where I live does not affect me, but people who are around me, do. I travel a lot, especially for work, and it's hard to say that a particular place is influences me in any way.

How would you describe your working environment?

It’s chaos! My life is a constant move, I always have to be going forward. I take part in every aspect of my brand so I always have to be ahead of all processes. Honestly, I have time for actual creation of collections only if I am out of the office or at night.

What's the future of fashion?

It is a very interesting question. I believe that mass market is absorbing fashion. I would love for the era when fashion was highly valued and admired, could return. But right now nobody has time for it, everyone rushes to buy another new dress and not care about it in a month. We no longer have a reason to order evening dresses simply because you wear jeans to the opera and care more about convenience rather than aesthetics. But fashion is also cyclical, let's see which ‘past’ our ‘future’ will throw us into.