Tripolar debuts Paris fashion, art and craft pop-up to aid Kyiv Angels

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
May 10, 2022

Tripolar, a fashion, art and crafts collective, has debuted a pop-up in Saint Germain, Paris, featuring works by Ukrainian creators. Proceeds will partly aid Kyiv Angels, in the latest example in Paris of support from the fashion industry for their country.

 
Located at 169 Boulevard St Germain, the small two-floor pop-up includes some great knits, modern twists on traditional Ukrainian costumes: objets d’art and even a video installation featuring work by film director Sergei Parajanov, who produced some of his most famous oeuvres whilst in Ukraine.
 
Riffing on its title, the pop-up will feature three different editions. The first is entitled 'Genesis,' hosting many talents that reference folkloric practices. Reflecting the war in their homeland there are also hand-embroidered table napkins that Masha Shubina customized with paintings of Russian military helicopters. On a raised platform one finds a soap sculpture of a female figure by Maria Kulikovska, the artist’s own cast with violent traces of gunshots.

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The temporary space will eventually become a Charlotte Chesnais boutique. Throughout out the pop-up, whose décor was inspired by Parajanov classic film Kyiv Frescoes, one finds Ukrainian scented yellow wax candles by Medovi Vsichki; delicate floral pottery by Gunia Project or large clay vases finished with coral usually used to embroidered chemises. Fashion designers also make strong appearances in the store’s upstairs attic: from Anna October’s super chunky cable knits ; to peasant dresses by Poustovit made of upcycled tablecloths.

There is even limited-edition Tripolar T-shirts designed by M/M Paris and produced by Poustovit sold in store, with profits donated to the Kyiv Angels humanitarian project in Ukraine.
 
A boutique soundtrack by DJ Nastya Vogan and a dramatic abstract mural courtesy of Tymur Postovyi adds to the sense of event. Altogether, a timely reminder of the special imagination of the Ukrainian people, as their country struggles to beat back a brutal and illegal Russian invasion.