LITKOVSKA Fall/Winter 2026: A Light Born from Blackouts, Now in Paris

On March 10, LITKOVSKA unveiled its Fall/Winter 2026 collection at Paris Fashion Week.

For this Kyiv-based brand, the show marked a historic milestone — its first appearance on the official Paris Fashion Week runway schedule. The collection is titled “FIREFLY.” Its soul was drawn from the winter nights of Kyiv, where blackouts have become routine, and people walk the darkened streets with small lights strapped to their heads.

A Vision Born from Blackout

Designer Liliia Litkovska spoke about the story behind the collection: “There are nights in Kyiv with no electricity, no heating, no water. People move through the city wearing small lights on their heads. From a distance, the streets look like a sky fallen onto the earth — scattered with tiny moving stars, like fireflies. This image became the soul of the collection. It was created in extreme winter — minus 30 degrees. In ateliers that sometimes had no power, in rooms where breath was visible in the air. But inside, there was warmth. FIREFLY explores the idea of an inner light that persists under pressure and connects people through uncertainty.”

That message was faithfully translated into the show itself. Every model walked the runway wearing a headlamp on their forehead. In the dim venue, points of white light appeared one after another — a swarm of fireflies, or perhaps the streets of Kyiv on a winter night brought to life.

The Aesthetics of Architectural Deconstruction and “Unfinishedness”

The design language running through the collection is unmistakably LITKOVSKA’s signature: architectural tailoring and deconstruction. Asymmetric silhouettes, structures built from multiple overlapping layers, hemlines that appear intentionally unresolved — all of it gives physical form to the fragility and tension of an era in which stability often feels like an illusion.

The expressive vocabulary of Ukrainian Baroque surfaces throughout. Dramatic proportions that evoke Kyiv’s sculptural architecture; flowing contours and shifting volumes. Each look, constructed as if setting past and present into dialogue, stands not merely as clothing but as architecture in its own right.

The Drama of Light and Dark in Every Look

The color palette is anchored in dark tones — black, charcoal, navy. Into this darkness, a vivid red oversized coat and a royal blue wool jacket are inserted, creating a contrast that embodies light itself breaking through. The materials are equally varied: leather, wool, tailoring fabrics, laminated textiles, and suede — combinations that lend each look a layered complexity.

Most striking is a fluid printed dress in black and amber yellow. Its organic curves, spreading across the entire silhouette, evoke the bioluminescent patterns of fireflies, making it the piece that most directly expresses the collection’s central theme.

A look pairing a black leather dress with a boldly layered beige draped shirt demonstrates the brand’s masterful command of material and form in contrast.

The handling of volume is equally compelling.

Oversized coats and jackets envelop the body on a grand scale, while asymmetric layered skirts and draped trousers sway with each step — a tension that generates strong visual impact.

Introducing the BESAGY BAG

One of the season’s highlights is the debut of the BESAGY BAG. Inspired by the traditional Ukrainian “Besahy” — a double-sided bag historically carried over the shoulder for long journeys or market travel — the bag reinterprets this piece of folk heritage for the contemporary nomad. On the runway, the design appeared in black leather with a gathered, supple silhouette, styled across multiple looks with quiet authority. Carrying both ancestral memory and everyday functionality, it is an object for those navigating an uncertain world — a wearable embodiment of the collection’s message.

What Fashion Can Say

Founded in Kyiv in 2009 by Liliia Litkovska, LITKOVSKA is now carried by over 60 retailers across 20 countries, including Dover Street Market in London, New York, and Ginza, among others. The brand’s motto — “There is no wrong side” — encapsulates a philosophy of transformative design: garments that can be worn inside out, deconstructed, or reshaped entirely.

This collection brings that philosophy to a deeper level. Embracing imperfection, accepting change, and refusing to let go of the light — “FIREFLY” is a collection rooted in the concrete reality of wartime Kyiv, yet carrying a universal message that transcends time and place.

The headlamps glowing on the foreheads of models walking the runway are not mere staging. They are something more urgent: a baton of light, passed from one person to another, to keep moving through the dark.

See all the looks from the LITKOVSKA Fall/Winter 2026 collection in the gallery below.

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