On the catwalk in Kyiv

Ukrainian Fashion Week. I'm not normally a slave to fashion (understatement - Ed) but when a friend offers me tickets to attend some of the shows during Kyiv Fashion WeekI'm intrigued.  Most of the defiles take place at an exhibition centre in the west of the city, where sponsors have set up slick displays to promote their products and boutiques offer designer gear in a vast array of styles.  There's a buzz about the venue, and it's impressive to see the presentations by different Ukrainian designers as the models do their stuff on the catwalk.  There are also shows, not all of them featuring Ukrainian designers, at other sites in the town including the new "Art Arsenal" (see 23 August). The week closes with a reception at a Kyiv restaurant attended by a number of fashionable and famous Ukrainians including actress and model Olga Kurylenko, whom I last saw in Kyiv when she was here promoting the most recent James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace", in which she had a starring role.  It's good to see that the Ukrainian fashion industry can support a trade event on this scale, and attract so much international interest.  "Now," the owner of a boutique specialising in Ukrainian fashion says, says, "if people want to support Ukraine, they can always wear Ukrainian."