Famous for his corsets and theatrical fashion items, Frolov is a Kyiv born brand. After hearing the first bomb explosions on February 24, they initially stopped production, focusing on the safety and wellbeing of their 35 talented people within the team. Nowadays, some of their amazing masters are back to work and instead of corsets, they are sewing the unloading for the army vests and rocket carriers. As working as usual is gone, alternative solutions to resume production for the international buyers are in place and some craftsmen have taken work home. By reaching out for the international market and keeping the exports going, they will be able to financially sustain the business, while being of service for their team and country.
WHERE DO YOU FIND RESOURCES TO FIGHT BACK, GET ON TRACK, PIVOT AND RESTART THE ENGINES IN CRUCIAL MOMENTS, LIKE THE ONES YOU EXPERIENCED DURING THE WAR
It’s all about people. Every Ukrainian right now is a hero: starting with our President that unites all the country to every person working in the rear to make our victory as close as possible. They make me fight and work even more than ever before.
A SAMPLE OF YOUR BEST WORK
One of the key pieces that represent our aesthetics is corsetry. The elastic mesh helps to create a perfect fit for any type of body. Whether it’s a corset or a corset dress, just by seeing it, you will immediately recognize FROLOV.
THE BEST THING ABOUT UKRAINIAN CREATIVITY IS
Ukrainian creativity is very deep, as it is based on our eternal historical and cultural foundation. We use it not only to connect with this heritage and nurture traditions but reflect them in a brand-new way.
A UKRAINIAN CUSTOM REFLECTING THE BEAUTY OF YOUR CULTURE
A lot of beautiful Ukrainian customs are found in the celebrations of traditional holidays. One of my favorites is the Day of Ivan Kupala. It’s a celebration of how natural opposites can unite: fire and water, life and death, and male and female. Girls weave wreaths of wildflowers and lay them on the river. If boys could catch some, it was meant for them to be together. Young couples danced, sang merry songs, jumped over the fire, and swam at night. And also, according to the legend, only during this night, the magical fern blossom. And if you can find it, you will be able to understand the language of animals and birds, see hidden treasures, find real love and be happy. This is something that tells so much of Ukrainian dreams, aspirations, and connections with your true self.
UKRAINE SHOULD BE KNOWN FOR
Its amazing brave, encouraging, creative, honest, supportive, generous, and freedom-loving people.
RECOMMEND A UKRAINIAN CREATIVE THE WORLD SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Frolov as a brand is always about collaborations. Those are just a few unique Ukrainian artists we love or did collaborations with: Masha Reva, Vova Vorotniov, Masha Shubina, Taras Sereda, Hannah Zaruma, Mykola Tolmachev, Vlada Ralko, Oksana Levchenya, Love Curly, Yarema and Himey, Anatoliy Belov, Timur Pystovoi, Olga Kravchenko, Inna Galatenko. Regarding my colleagues I would not miss a chance to mention amazing Ukrainian designers like Ruslan Baginskiy, Svitlana Bevza, Anna October, Julie Pelipas, Anton Belinskiy, Julie Paskal, Ksenia Schnaider.
ADVICE FOR INTERNATIONAL HEADHUNTERS, RELATED TO UKRAINIAN CREATIVES
I really want to advise on checking this amazing project of our friends called Better. Community. This is a powerful platform for mutual support and solving problems facing the Ukrainian creative industries. Just by visiting their website, you can find a lot of amazing Ukrainian talents who are open to work and collaborations.
Also to support talented Ukrainian designers you can take a look into project called The Angel for Fashion. It is a website where you can discover and shop Ukrainian brands, while having a deeper exploration of our fashion industry.
WHAT IS YOUR CAUSE AND HOW OTHERS CAN HELP?
Right now, we’re fundraising for the production of bulletproof vests for our army. 8 years ago, during the Revolution of Dignity, we’ve been creating vests for the bravest men who defended our freedom. Years passed, and now we’re using all of our opportunities to help on a larger scale and fundraise for the production of the vests. Another way of joining our fundraising is buying our first ever NFT. 100% of its proceeds will be donated to the production of bulletproof vests to protect the brave hearts of the Ukrainian army.
HOW PEOPLE CAN FIND YOU IF THEY WANT TO CONNECT WITH YOU?
Via our Instagram, or email info@frolov.ua.