Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has started the trend by wearing khaki outfits in every setting since the start of the Russian invasion in February.
During the eight months of the war, his people followed his fashionable lead.
Even civilians far from the front lines have adopted their president’s khaki dress code, which has become a communications weapon.
As Ukraine’s army chief, Zelenskyy could wear the national military uniform, but he swapped his suits for more relaxed civilian outfits with military tones.
Since the first day of the war, he has worn olive-green T-shirts showing his biceps, with khaki fleece over them on cold days, along with cargo pants and sneakers in the same shades.
“And these are very cheap sneakers that signal simplicity,” Tanya Solovey, a fashion history researcher and former Vogue journalist, tells AFP.
“They say, ‘My country is fighting and I wear the same simple and comfortable clothes as people who go to underground shelters,'” adds Solovey.
Army green has also been embraced en masse by civilians in the country, which on February 25 announced general mobilization for men aged 18 to 60.
“A lot of people started wearing khaki, which is associated with our army. That way we don’t forget what’s going on and help in our own way,” says 30-year-old Denys, walking around Kyiv in a designer khaki jacket.
The monochromatic trend also conquered women’s fashion, from neat fingertips to small accessories.
Svitlana, 62, chose a khaki tracksuit to go downtown Kyiv because “our times demand it”.
“But not every day, that would be too monotonous,” says the pensioner, who spices up her outfit with a sleeveless candy-pink down jacket.
– Illegal for civilians –
“Khaki has always been a popular color for casual wear and outerwear in Ukraine, but it’s become more than just a style, it’s the visual identity of an entire nation at war,” says Solovey.
In front of the main post office in Kyiv, Natalya wears a complete khaki look from head to toe, from the hat to the tailored trousers and the elegant quilted jacket.
She has worn this color since the beginning of the war as a tribute to her brother who was killed in action in 2015 and to her husband who was mobilized at the front.
“Camouflage is the only color that makes me feel protected,” says the 42-year-old accountant.
In the war-torn nation, most supermarkets have replaced the flowers or phones on their stalls with military uniforms for conscripts or mobilized soldiers.
Ukrainian martial law prohibits civilians from wearing military uniforms or any other outfit that could pass for as such.
Violators can be fined up to 3,400 hryvnia ($92).
“I love this (khaki) color, I also have a lot of outfits with camouflage patterns, but I avoid wearing them so as not to confuse people or bother our soldiers,” said Anastasya Grebinichenko, a 15-year-old student who has chosen black as her winter color.
– Embroideries and ‘vyshyvankas’ –
In Kyiv, the clothing line “Aviatsiya Halychyny”, founded at the beginning of the war in 2014, has become widely known for its T-shirts honoring the defenders of Mariupol or with anti-Russian messages.
The company donates part of its earnings to Ukrainian army brigades.
“Clothing is the easiest vector for expressing an opinion,” says Natalya Kulyk, a brand manager.
“They show direct support for our army, they’re a patriotic expression,” adds Kulyk, who wears a black “tactical style” outfit with a military-inspired fleece with pockets and a herringbone pattern.
In Ukraine, since the 2004 Orange Revolution, fashion has become a tool and a political symbol.
Then citizens started wearing scarves and ribbons of the same color to protest Kremlin-backed oligarch Viktor Yanukovych.
After the pro-EU, so-called Euromaidan protest wave in 2014, followed by the start of the conflict with Russia that same year, Ukrainian fashion took on openly “patriotic” tones.
Many began wearing patches with the trident, the national emblem.
Another trend clearly returned when people started wearing traditional embroidered shirts called vyshyvankas.
“As long as Russia reiterates that there is no Ukrainian nation, language or identity, we will defend our culture and heritage, that’s just part of the fight,” Solovey said.
