Fashion and Protest: A Look Back at Maidan’s Creative Resistance

Fashion and Protest: A Look Back at Maidan’s Creative Resistance

During the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv, when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets to challenge Viktor Yanukovych’s government, every possible form of resistance and expression emerged—including fashion.

One striking example came from Ukrainian designer Anton Belinskiy, who recalled how the entire fashion industry in Ukraine seemed to have moved from runways to the streets in those historic months. Just weeks after the Kiev Fashion Days event, designers, models, and artists joined the protests, using their craft as a symbolic contribution to the movement. “We were just ordinary citizens who wanted to shape the future of our motherland,” Belinskiy later reflected. “It wasn’t about glamour—it was about identity and resistance.”

One particularly powerful fashion moment unfolded in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), where Belinskiy, along with 16-year-old photographer Alexandra Trishina and 15-year-old model Nastya Petryshina, staged a spontaneous photo shoot. Having met the young creatives through Facebook, Belinskiy invited them to collaborate on an impromptu project that blended elements of his recent collection with traditional Ukrainian dress—the vinok (head wreath), kozhukh (leather kaftan), and the blue and yellow national flag.

At first, their actions were met with skepticism and even hostility from fellow protesters. The streets were filled with students covered in blood, demonstrators bracing for the next confrontation, and journalists capturing the chaos. But once people understood the intent behind the project, they embraced it with enthusiasm. What began as a fashion experiment quickly transformed into an artistic statement of national pride and resilience.

These moments of creative resistance unfolded amid heightened political tensions, as Ukrainians waited to see Yanukovych’s next move. His government had just survived a no-confidence vote, despite mass opposition following his abrupt decision to abandon a European Union integration pact in favor of closer ties with Russia. The situation was evolving rapidly, and as Belinskiy described it at the time, “everything was changing every minute.”

Looking back, this fusion of fashion and activism became part of the visual memory of Euromaidan, illustrating how Ukrainians—young and old, artists and activists—used every tool available to assert their identity, defend their rights, and fight for a democratic future.