Little Red Village

Today's conversation is between myself and Ukrainian fashion designer Olena Dats.

Olena's mother created a collection of traditional Ukrainian clothing, some of it more than 100 years old, as clothing does, especially pieces that were made before synthetic fibers were available. Eventually, some of it began to fall apart. Olena who could not be stopped by any force that I know have told me that when this happened, she did what she always does when facing a potential disaster. She said, first I cry. And then I think, what can I do?

This led to some innovative, completely original apparel design in the augmented reality space with face me studio. Now, please know, this was long before anyone else was experimenting with apparel in AR. But I'll let her tell you that story. Dat's has built her world renowned brand, by blending her deep love for Ukrainian tradition with all different kinds of state of the art technology.

Through this process, each of her collections becomes a kind of conversation, a reflection on what clothing and beauty mean in modern life. Her work has shown around the world and cities known for the highest of high end fashion, places like Paris, Japan, Dubai and more, so many more.