Designer Nadia Dziak: Ukrainians have always been the best in the light industry. And this is our future
7 March 2024 15:25
SPECIAL PRO
NADYA DZYAK is a brand created 15 years ago by a Ukrainian woman from Dnipro that sets new trends in the fashion world. Nadia Dzyak’s dresses not only win the hearts of Hollywood stars, but also tell the world about the war in Ukraine. Nadia Dzyak, the founder of the NADYA DZYAK brand, told Kommersant Ukrainian 
about the brand’s DNA, the team that creates legendary dresses, approaches to building a business and the future of the Ukrainian fashion industry in an exclusive interview as part of the special project “War & Fashion: the Heartbeat of Ukrainian Fashion “.
Is there a place for Ukrainian designer clothes during the war? Why is it important not to stop?
Indeed, we continue to live and work in a new, distorted, scary reality. But despite this difficult life, I believe there is a place for designer dresses! Our clothes make women happier. We have been carrying this mission for over 15 years. And our dresses “work”. This is what helps us to keep going and is very motivating.
My European friends are amazed to hear that when we leave the basement after nightly rocket attacks, we go to work and, in spite of everything, create incredible dresses: complex, festive, sophisticated, and moody. This is our difficult everyday life nowadays, and these events are happening simultaneously: the shelling and the exquisite world of beauty. And so do people. Despite the shelling and air raids, they are planning weddings, birthdays and holidays. Despite the war, they are trying to live and plan events, do things that bring the very feeling of happiness and joy. Our dresses help people feel that they are living.
When the full-scale invasion began, many of our clients wrote to us that they had packed a tracksuit, sneakers and our dress in their anxious suitcase. A transparent dress that they love very much, which brought them very cool emotions. And when I heard this, when I saw these photos, it was something incredible. It moves you to tears, and that’s what keeps us going.
In an interview, you said that the team is your family. How has the war affected its strength? What is the right way to find your people in the design business?
Our team, the NADYA DZYAK team, is, without exaggeration, one family. When we were doing a festive photo shoot for the 15th anniversary of our brand in the summer, I wrote the numbers on one of the photos, who has been working in our team for how many years. And these numbers speak for themselves. It seems to me that our unity, our friendship, our values directly affect our dresses. And this is what I built our brand on.
I don’t remember for sure whether I heard it somewhere or came up with it myself, but I have always implemented LQ – the level of love in the team. When there is something much more than financial motivation and material things, the connection is of a different level.
We are used to other approaches to building a business. But for me, support, understanding, and warm relationships are extremely important. That’s how the women’s team has truly become a family for more than 10 years, where we share all the failures and great moments together. I know the names of all the children in my team. We live all the moments together with the team, feel and support each other. For example, my right-hand man, the production director, a person who has been in the team for 14 years, understands me from a distance, and we can create incredible things from a distance.
We especially felt this value of our friendship during the full-scale invasion. At first, we all left for a while, but we quickly returned to work because we all missed it, we missed the people, the team, the communication, our incredible atmosphere. And at that time, as a brand owner, a business owner, I was once again convinced of how important non-material motivation is.
With our dresses, we make someone happier for a moment. Perhaps these dresses will help to bring someone out of depression or a difficult state, help to bring back the emotions you felt before the war.
I very rarely let new people get close to me. Unfortunately or fortunately, our team is quite closed. I usually feel my own people. There are two most important things in my life – my family and my business. These are my two strong pillars. Of course, over 15 years, we have had our mistakes and, unfortunately, some random people. But usually such random people did not stay in the team for long. So now I understand for sure that our team is united by common values and a common vision. In addition to financial motivation, each of us knows and carries the company’s mission. And we convey these values through our dresses, and our customers feel it.
Each employee, each craftswoman knows why she comes to work, for whom she creates a dress. After all, with these dresses, we will make someone happier for a moment. Perhaps these dresses will help to bring someone out of depression or a difficult state, help to bring back the emotions we felt before the war. This desire is what unites us today.
Has the client of the Nadya Dzyak brand changed over the years?
Our customer has not changed over the years. He has become even more appreciative of our things and what we put into them. In addition to aesthetics, the client has begun to pay more attention to what is behind these dresses: what team is making them, where they are produced, what is the philosophy, mission and position of the brand. For the client, a dress is no longer just a dress. It is a complex of all the nuances.
People started to think more and pay attention to the values of those who create these clothes.
Before the war started, Nadia Dzyak’s dresses won the hearts of world-class stars. When Kylie Minogue’s stylist saw your outfit on the singer, she said: “She hasn’t felt like this in a long time!” Then you joked that it was time to close the Nadya Dzyak brand, because everything mega-cool had happened. How do you perceive such a great success from a business point of view?
When our dress was worn by Kylie Minogue in 2020, I did make that joke. But it was just a joke. Indeed, after Kylie wore our dress, her stylist wrote that she hadn’t felt like this for a long time. This is exactly what I was talking about – the importance of giving emotions. We made Kylie Minogue happier with our dress. She later used this dress to advertise her champagne line. And this is not the only dress Kylie has worn. Of course, it was a success, because Kylie Minogue is, without exaggeration, a world music icon. By the way, at the moment she chose our dress, I had 3 discs of her albums in my car. And it’s not just her music that I love. The very image of Kylie as a woman is very close to me.
And although the singer did not sign the brand name on her Instagram page, everyone immediately recognised the dress. “Because our dresses have their own DNA. Our signature pleats, volumes, transparency can be seen in the dresses from our first show in 2008. And this dress has already become our classic. And for the fifth year in a row, it has been in constant demand. I think that our clients, having seen it on Kylie Minogue, have once again appreciated our work. And it also added value to our brand.
You are one of the few top Ukrainian designers who have conquered the London Fashion Week catwalk. And this is at a time when Ukraine is already at war. What or who shapes your strong will to express yourself through exquisite dresses and tell the world about the events in Ukraine through them?
We really do speak to the world through our dresses. The London show in the official London Fashion Week show schedule is a powerful event that took place last year. I remember my state then – and the goosebumps. I still remember the shock that we all experienced after the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station explosion. And I realised that I could tell the world about it through my dresses. In particular, about the work of the naïve artist Polina Raiko, whose house-museum in Oleshky, Kherson region, was flooded after the Russians blew up the dam. So, I decided to use this opportunity by taking part in the screening to tell the whole world about the artist’s destroyed home. And I think we succeeded.
The entire collection was dedicated to Polina Raiko’s naive art. The dress that closed the show is called “Polina Raiko”. The artist’s paintings became my inspiration for this collection, and now we don’t have time to send this dress “on tour” for a variety of shoots. We have already had more than 10 shoots for world publications.
This dress closed the show of Ukrainian designers as part of the Support Ukrainian Fashion initiative by Ukrainian Fashion Week. So I really wanted to make this final look incredible. I still don’t understand how I managed to create this dress and combine fashion, modernity, patriotism and Polina Raiko’s naive artwork. After the show, there was a queue of journalists waiting for us. And I told each of them about the war, the destruction of the dam, about Polina Raiko’s work and about our talented people. And when the next day there were publications in world publications about the house-museum, the dam, and the fact that Russia had destroyed all this, I realised that we had not worked in vain. Our mission, at least at London Fashion Week, has been fulfilled. And this is the most important thing for me – to tell the world the truth through our work.
You gained global recognition a little earlier, in 2017, when you created transparent pleating and arranged it in geometric shapes, thus setting new trends in the fashion world. They were later picked up by well-known brands. From the point of view of brand development, how do you communicate such stories correctly?
Yes. A few years ago, we saw at the Valentino show our completely transparent pleats twisted into the same geometric shapes – circles, like ours. Clients started writing to me, sending me screenshots and photos. Someone wrote in the comments that it looks very similar to NADYA DZYAK. Of course, they say that all creators take information from the Cosmos, the Universe, and that it has all been there for a long time. But all of this is high matter. But seriously, that collection contained absolutely our ideas, and everyone saw it. And this also added additional value to us.
A few years ago, we saw at the Valentino show completely our transparent pleats twisted into the same geometric shapes – circles, like ours. That collection was entirely our ideas, and everyone saw it.
The main thing is that our clients know that we were the first. I have a lot of respect for Valentino. But they have never put transparent pleating in such circles before. Then, in 2017, we made a cool inspiration for many world designers. We “braided the air”. That was the task I set for my employee who is responsible for choosing fabrics, pleats, etc. I asked her to make a pleat as if you were pleating the air. She hasn’t been surprised by my creative fantasies for a long time. And she will never tell me that it is impossible. Then we tried to pleat transparent organza, a strong tulle that holds its shape. So that I could twist it into geometric shapes. We did it, and since then it has always been with us and has become part of our DNA.
As a designer, I really love these optical illusions that can be created using different colours, textures and materials.
You have accepted Iryna Danylevska’s offer to participate in Ukrainian Fashion Week, which she hopes to restore and hold in August-September this year. Why is Ukrainian fashion relevant in times of war?
We all dream of our big show after the Victory. Irina Danilevskaya is still doing a lot for the Victory. And she also dreams of Ukrainian Fashion Week being revived. In fact, it does exist, and these shows are now taking place all over the world. It used to be held in Kyiv. And now the designers who presented their collections in Ukraine do their shows in different countries, at different fashion weeks, which support us as part of the Support Ukrainian Fashion initiative from Ukrainian Fashion Week.
We all dream of a big show in Kyiv in August-September 2024. Behind these shows, behind these brands, there are great teams. All the dresses are made by incredible craftswomen for dozens of hours. Many of my designer colleagues tried to revive their work abroad, and they failed.
We all continue to sew in Ukraine. And this is important not only from a psychological point of view. It’s all about the economy, taxes, jobs, the system. I would like to draw special attention to the high professionalism of our craftswomen. This talent, this incredible quality is likely to be passed down from generation to generation.
We have everything to make Ukraine the centre of world fashion after the victory. Our country has a lot of famous designers and brands that are known all over the world. Designers who have reached the world level through talent, charisma, freedom, and hard work. Ukrainian designers are inspired and admired. We can also become a global centre for the production of exclusive, sophisticated items. We have always been the best in the light industry. And this is our future.
Deliveries of your dresses to clients for fitting are free of charge and without subscriptions! Is this step justified? What does it mean? After all, everything in business has a price.
Indeed, we deliver our dresses without a subscription. I trust the universe, I believe in our dresses, because we have a very small percentage of returns. And we’re not talking about returns in general, but about returns for alterations in size. We know that it’s impossible not to fall in love with our dresses, so they go to their customers without a prepayment. As a mother believes in her child, so do I believe in our product. We trust our customers and know that they will be satisfied. We also send dresses for fitting, when a person can try on a thing at home in a relaxed atmosphere, for example, with their favourite shoes. Believing in yourself and your product is our recipe. And it works.
Since Kommersant Ukrainian is a business publication, we offer you a short blitz where you choose one of two answers based on your own business experience:
If advertising, then:
- with a focus on the brand’s products?
- on the brand’s achievements in the fashion world?
Nadia Dziak: With an emphasis on the brand’s products and its values.
As for collaborations, then:
- with fellow designers;
- it doesn’t matter with whom, but it is important to create value?
Nadia Dziak: It doesn’t matter with whom, it’s important to create value.
If the number of clients is decreasing, the problem is most often in:
- fashion is out of date;
- lack of transformation of the brand itself?
Nadia Dziak: The lack of transformation of the brand itself.
And finally, honest advice from Nadia Dziak: is it worth starting or developing a business in the fashion industry in Ukraine today?
It is definitely worthwhile and necessary! If you have an idea, a vocation, inspiration, passion, if you are burning with an idea, then you need to implement it! There’s a rule: if you have something in mind, if you feel something, you have to do it now. Or take at least some small step towards your dream, your idea. If you don’t do it, someone else in the world will do it at that time. You need to remember this rule and not be afraid of anything.
If you have come up with something, if you feel something, then you need to do it now. Or take at least some small step towards your dream, your idea. If you don’t do it, someone else in the world will do it at that time. You need to remember this rule and not be afraid of anything.
It may not be the right business advice, but start doing something first, and then you will count. But to do this, of course, you need to be burning with an idea. Don’t sit around thinking about what to do. That’s how only soulless things are born, without passion, without an idea. You should create only when it comes from your heart. Then everything will work out.
Of course, you have to be prepared for difficulties, for the fact that you may not succeed at first. But if you believe in your business, your idea, your product, you will succeed! Then you will definitely overcome obstacles and failures in business. Another extremely important piece of advice is to build a good team. Find at least one person to start with who will support your idea. Even if it seems unrealistic to the rest of the world.
Read more in the special project “War & Fashion: the heartbeat of Ukrainian fashion”:
"War & Fashion: the heartbeat of Ukrainian fashion". Special project by Kommersant Ukrainian
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