As part of Fashion Revolution Week, 23 – 29 April 2018, the British Council will release a series of 7 short films profiling the innovative stories of 7 practitioners across the world, including fashion designers, artists, architects and entrepreneurs. The films have been created in the spirit of the grassroots movement, using content produced by the practitioners themselves and directed by Kate Cox and produced by the Smalls. 

In this film designer Yasia Khomenko of the Ukranian brand RCR Khomenko, takes viewers on a trip through Kiev, where she has searched for old things to turn new since she was a child. Yasia tells the story of her upcyling process, and how she hopes to bring fairytales to life through her work. 

ABOUT RCR KHOMENKO 

RCR Khomenko is a smart, storyteller, ironic and sustainable Ukrainian brand established in 2011 by young designer Yasia Khomenko. Inspired by second-hand clothes and children’s fairy tales, Yasia works on creating a real mass-market of upcycled clothes in Ukraine. The designer, who visited London in February 2016 as part of Ukrainian Fashion Week’s ‘Fashion School Rebels’ showcase, works with long-time collaborators Forma, a group of architects and urban planners, to produce her shows. Upcycling has been a focus of Khomenko’s collections since the beginning, and she is a passionate advocate of using only thrifted and recycled fabrics, dreaming of “a mass market of second hand”.

She has had success producing fun, wearable collections with original, playful prints in combination with strong ecological manifesto – “today is a time for Revolution in Fashion, in Human awareness and social responsibility. Especially in Ukraine where ucycling and second-hand materials are very squeamish themes. For me it’s a part of my life from the very childhood. And no matter what, I’ll make the real Church of upcycling come true where people will remake their clothes to the very end!»