Litkovska: the Kyiv fashion house that builds clothing like architecture
Founded in Kyiv in 2009, Litkovska cuts garments the way an architect draws a structure. A portrait of a Ukrainian fashion house that shows at Paris Fashion Week and sells across some twenty countries.
A fashion house born in Kyiv in 2009 that, fifteen years on, walks the runway in Paris: Litkovska has built itself on one simple, stubborn idea — clothing as structure. Designer Lilia Litkovska has developed a recognisable signature from it, built on architectural cuts and a deliberate refusal of conventional ready-to-wear rules. Now stocked by more than sixty retailers across some twenty countries, the brand has kept its headquarters in the Ukrainian capital.
A house born in Kyiv
The story begins in 2009, when Lilia Litkovska founded her own house in a Ukraine that was not yet, for the international fashion industry, a recognised ready-to-wear stronghold. Kyiv has remained the brand’s base from the very start. Litkovska chose early on to take her collections beyond Ukraine’s borders: the house presents its work at Paris Fashion Week, a presence that places it on the international show calendar alongside established names. According to the brand, it has presented more than a hundred collections over the years — a rhythm that speaks to sustained work rather than a single isolated moment.
A cut that builds the garment
Litkovska defines itself through womenswear, with an approach best described as architectural: the cut acts as a structure, on equal footing with fabric or colour. This approach shapes the house’s entire catalogue and sets its vocabulary apart from more conventional ready-to-wear, where cut often remains in service of an expected silhouette. At Litkovska, it becomes a language in its own right, designed for a clientele seeking recognisable pieces rather than interchangeable basics.
ARTISANAL, a line apart
In 2018, the house launched ARTISANAL, a line presented as responsible. It nonetheless continues the house’s approach: a way of keeping the same architectural signature while questioning, piece by piece, how it is produced.
SCHOOLL, passing on more than a craft
In 2020, Lilia Litkovska founded SCHOOLL, a school led by the designer herself. This choice says something about the house’s relationship to its own craft: rather than keeping her know-how in-house, the founder chose to pass it on through structured teaching. Few houses of Litkovska’s size attach a school to their creative activity; the gesture is worth noting for what it reveals about a vision of the trade that goes beyond the seasonal collection alone.
What the brand stands for
Litkovska claims a reputation as fashion’s “enfant terrible”, a term the house uses itself to describe its resistance to imposed norms and its attachment to a form of authenticity. This stance comes with public recognition: according to the brand, Lilia Litkovska was named by Forbes among Ukraine’s fifty leading women in wartime. This distinction, awarded to the founder rather than to the house alone, places the creative work in a context broader than fashion: that of a Ukraine that continues to produce, create and show, despite the war. It is also this context that gives the brand’s journey its depth: a continued presence in Paris, the development of an international distribution network, and the passing on of know-how through teaching.
Why we like it
We like this idea of clothing conceived as a structure, where the cut acts as its skeleton. We also like that a house born in Kyiv chose to pass on its know-how through a school rather than keep it to itself.
Exactly the kind of brand we’d love to come across on O!deal one day.
Litkovska products we’ve spotted
1
Litkovska's PEPLUM-PLEAT BLOUSE: draped pleats, made in Ukraine
A white shirt built around a draped knot collar and vertical pleats, from Kyiv-based label Litkovska — what its fabric mix and size range actually mean for the person wearing it.