On an unofficial three-day trip to Washington, D.C., Olena Zelenska, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, dressed for her country.
Though it has become an unwritten part of the job that first ladies support local designers, to promote their business and profile on the world stage, Zelenska’s wardrobe strategy went beyond simply boosterism, writes Vanessa Friedman, our chief fashion critic.
Her olive green dress — strong shoulders, with an integral scarf at the neck — mirrored her husband’s signature uniform of olive green T-shirt, spoke to traditions of military clothing, and symbolized a refugee story, all at the same time. The designer, Lilia Litkovskaya, had fled Kyiv with her husband and small child and is now in Paris where she has been promoting and supporting Ukrainian fashion from afar.
Zelenska wore a pin on the dress that mirrored traditional Ukrainian flower embroidery. It was from the Ukrainian jewelry line Guzema, part of a collection called Nezalezhna, or “Independent”; her earrings were a pair she had worn for her husband’s inauguration in 2019.
She wore the brooch again the next day, when she met with the Bidens, this time on a light lemon yellow skirt suit by Litkovskaya, which she paired with light blue shoes, in a nod to her country’s colors.
Read more from our chief fashion critic on the Ukrainian first lady’s visit and the meaning behind her fashion choices. Photos by Patrick Semansky/@apnews and pool photos by Bonnie Cash/EPA and Jabin Botsford/EPA, via Shutterstock.
