Ana Varava: 15 Years in the Fashion Industry – From L’Officiel to Going Global

What was it like to bring Paris based French magazine and the entire format to Ukraine?

Actually, I guess it was super, super challenging and you can imagine it was more than I was there 14 years. So it was about 20 years ago and in Ukraine there were no boutique, no monobran stores. I remember that Louis Vuitton was the pioneer over there and they opened a few years after office here was already on the market. So for many, many years people were not able to pronounce the name. Let’s start from that. We participated in, as I developed the brand and the stew that we need to cooperate, we need to be at events as a brand. We need to talk to people to communicate as a brand of this year and to show what is that. So at many events people, even the guests and the hosts of the events, they couldn’t even pronounce the name. So it was a challenge.

But anyway, on the market it was one of the, yeah, we had office here, we had L, we had after that Harper’s Bazaar, but office here it was like the first one and then Louis Vuitton opened and then the brands came to the market. So from one side it was a, it was very challenging, but from the other side it was a great move. It was the great initiative because we were the first. We first who made a production studio, we first together photographers and talented people and gave them from, from my side, from our professional team. We gave them this knowledge, we gave them work, we work together to produce these fashion stories, to produce projects and so on. And a lot of people actually from our studio are now citizens of US, as they have a great portfolio and after that, they made this portfolio and they had an opportunity to develop themselves in other countries and to show their talent and made it more professional.

So yeah, it was difficult, but that was a success and for many years we were the only one who initiated projects and everyone knew about that. And I would say that because we and myself put a lot of energy, put a lot of professional knowledge in that and I knew how to develop. I felt that and they did this project, you know, I was very passionate about it.

Wow, that’s incredible. Well, yeah, so it was, it was fairly challenging bringing it into a European country when you think about it, right? But the country that had very little in the infrastructure, no brands whatsoever and you almost paved the way to a lot of those brands that come into the, come into Ukraine. So let’s talk about more difficult topics. Here you are enjoying, doing amazing stuff, loving your work and in 2014, Russia invades Ukraine. That was the first invasion. And then I’m not sure what happened with you at that time, but if you did stay in Ukraine, then the second time again took place in 2022.

What happened with you? What happened with the magazine? What happened with the world of fashion all of a sudden, which is so fragile, which is so, so sensitive to the environment, if you will, right? I mean, what, who cares about fashion when there’s a war in the country, right? So how, how did you overcome that challenge? What happened to you? What happened to the magazine and tell us more about that?

Yeah, actually, I remember that at that time in 2014, at that time, I was in France as well, where it all happened. But then of course, I came back to be honest, I’m, I didn’t really realize that what happened yet was a tough time exactly. And a lot was, you know, challenging and changing and so on. But we didn’t feel that because it was only on the eastern part, mostly on the country. And we are, I live in Kiev and everything, all the business mostly concentrated in Kiev. So yeah, it was a little bit of isolated war, let’s say, yeah. And in 2022, in February, actually, just before it was in years for quite long and beginning of February, I had to come back to Ukraine because I had a meeting and we had a lot of projects, interesting project with UNESCO and so on that had to be in Ukraine.

We wanted to make a celebration of friendship between Italy and Ukraine and also, yes, with this, in the sculptural field with UNESCO. And so that’s why I came back. It was beginning of February. And I didn’t really recognize that something was happening. I was doing my job. I had a lot of projects going on. I just went back to Western Ukraine to teach seminar and February 23. I flew back to Kiev and then I understood that what the last flight and the airport was closed. So I didn’t know I was like, actually, I’m not a person who is reading news all the time. I want to be more peaceful with my head, with my life and to be concentrated on the positive side of all that. So maybe I neglected or I was not that involved in the things that was happening.

Yeah, February 24. I was in Kiev and I walked up. I went on the street and then I realized, actually, I didn’t realize I just understood that everything is so strange going on. And of course, it’s hard when before I was traveling, I was I visited 67 countries. I lived in eight countries. So I always I was rare in Kiev. Yeah, let’s say, let’s say so and all my friends know that. But I’m not forced to leave the city. I’m not forced to leave my home. You know, because I know this is my flat, this is my home, this is my city. All my stuff is there and I can come back anytime, whenever I leave or where I do. And at that time, I had to pick up my clothes in five minutes, actually not closed, but you have a small bag and my documents and leave the the city, the house, the country, everything, because it was they said that the that Kiev was surrounded by Russian troops.

And if they take the city, so it’s it won’t it will be almost not possible to leave. So that was the story. And that was a big, big stress. First of all, yeah. And after I didn’t realize that for one month, when I happened to be in Romania, after then I came to Germany, after I still didn’t realize that. And my stress reaction was doing things, you know, first of all, I couldn’t meet. Yeah, I was frozen. I didn’t know what to do. All my family is in another city of Ukraine. So they stay there. And I’m like in between, I’m here, I’m there, I’m thinking about you about myself, what to do and so on. And yeah, I happened to be in Germany. And my stress reaction was looking for the job, looking for opportunities, looking for projects. And that’s what I started to do for most of people.

Maybe they have different reaction and that is better. In my sense, yeah, it was really like more stress and then more stress, you know, and I didn’t keep time for myself to do that. So I happened to be in Germany and they started working on the projects.

So you were at that time, you were no longer with a Lefesiel, correct?

Yeah, I finished was off the sale in Ukraine four years ago. And then I launched in 2019 in Austria. And then from 2020, I was more with institutional work in consulting. I think the projects and so yeah, there was a lot of disruption, obviously, which is COVID, which took over the world. How did you have what happened with you during COVID? How did you handle that? Because as you said, you traveled to 67 countries, you even be my record. I’ve traveled to 65, I think, or something like that. But the question I have is, you know, when you get involved with the global business like this, right? And you have COVID, which paralyzes the entire world. What how do you do? How do you digitize your experience, so to speak?

Exactly. That’s that’s, you’re right saying that a lot went into digital world. And they, of course, they resort, they are business, what they have to do. They became more conscious about a year, what to do, how to help the business. And I actually took an SMM team and they worked on my more on my social media presence, because before I had very intense life, let’s say, had no time for my social media for sharing what I can do for experience and so on. I made also my course, it’s image share. As I had my second image as an image maker psychologist, so I did my course dedicated to image making, where everyone can you know, can learn about themselves and understand about their appearance, what they, how they want to be presented to this world, which calls to a bit by means of their appearance, closes and so on.

So I was concentrated on that. And that was the end of 2021, actually, when I launched the course. And of course, you had, yeah, we became more digital and yeah, I consulted projects mostly by online. Yeah, and it was less offline activities, but more online and still fashion industry grew at that time, because they sold so much things online. Also, because of the stress, people were stressed, they had a lot of time and they were buying, buying, buying online and so on.

So they were buying clothing, they were buying expensive bags, they were buying scarfs, they were buying jewelry, accessories, everything, right? For a few, you name it.

My friends actually had a offline boutique, a boutique here and they had a very high priced items. And sometimes they opened and during the COVID, they sold the most high priced items and I guess the biggest amount ever. So people wanted that things, you know, it’s COVID time. They wanted to relieve the stress somehow, correct? And if they had the money, yeah, they figured, you know, who knows what’s going to happen next? Let me ask you, but you know, COVID was not just about buying things. It was also about logistics. It was also about manufacturing, right? So when you say luxury items were flying off the warehouses and shelves and so on and so on.

But what about logistics? Because logistics was, you know, you had to deliver the goods, right? You had to manufacture the goods. How did that impact the fashion industry in general?

Yeah, at that time, we actually had requests from or more from European countries, mostly from Netherlands, who wanted to work basically with the Ukraine because during COVID, they understood that their production in China is not actually beneficial anymore for them. And they want countries to be closer to them. So Europe, they looked on the countries like, okay, Bulgaria, Ukraine, maybe Romania to produce goods over here, because they first, they produced in China, then they moved to Turkey, but Turkey in some time, they became more and more expensive. And then they saw, okay, here is Ukraine. And these guys are not expensive, but the quality is great. So why won’t we work with them? And that at that time, we started projects with Netherlands, how to combine how to tie our industries actually.

And they wanted to produce in Ukraine and to be more safe, you know, and from this point of view. So I think that at this time, even a lot of companies, they resort where they produce what for, yeah, and these high items, they also, it’s also moved because they wanted to, they became eager to produce more high priced items than buy a lot, a lot of cheap stuff. So it’s also changed a little bit and influenced the sustainability aspect of the fashion industry in this case. I would say, yeah, with the COVID.

Interesting. So let’s, Anna, let’s talk about you for a moment. I know the business is great in terms of what companies are doing and so forth. But let’s dig a little bit deeper into you as a personality, as a person. All these disruptions, especially being in the industry segment, such as fashion, that is very sensitive to disruptions, that is very sensitive to disruptions and logistics in economics, if you will, the economy of the particular country and so forth, the spending power of the consumer and so forth. The movement, how did you feel? What went through your mind in terms of your career, what you’ve built so far, and where it’s all going, in the sense that, what are you going to be doing next? What have you learned? Maybe something changed in your value system.

Tell us about how you felt and how you feel now.

Yeah, that’s a sensitive question, actually, and it’s good that you’re asking me it now, not before, because before, like for all this time, even for all this year, I didn’t understand what are the values, why people, you know, buy things, but they don’t think about human lives, like what is the sense of life and so on. They don’t need all this stuff. So, actually, yes, it changed values in a way, but then me, yeah, I started to value life more. I started to value good things more, real people who are not like just talking, who are doing things, and let’s say who have big hearts and who want to help you, not because you are someone, not because you did something, but just because they want. And that actually, I saw that a lot, and maybe I’m lucky to see that. And I understood that it’s really great, and it’s better, it’s bigger than just some items you want to sell, or it’s just more than goods, or it’s just more than, you know, selling something and so on.

Yes, I did, maybe that’s good, because all my life, I was developing, I was working on myself, I’ve been around the world to spiritual places, you know, so I did a lot of things for myself, so I always want and try to see the good part of life, to see something good and things what they’re happening. And then at some point, I felt on myself, if I’m going negative, or if I read bad news, it influenced me a lot. And I really destroy myself, inner outer, I felt it on my house and so on. So, actually, the lesson for me was to, if I can’t change something, I don’t need to take emotions from it on me. I don’t need it to influence me, because it just makes bad on me, and that’s it. And if we try to do good things all together, because we are all connected, it actually works. And if we concentrate on this bright side, on something good, on doing good things and valuable things, it helps.

It really helps. And let’s say maybe it’s a positive psychology, or it’s a mindset, but it works. And in this case, I like America. And in some sense, American mindset, when people tried to, when successful, being successful is great. You know, like, okay, wow, man, you’re good, you made it. Yeah, let’s go. And from one side, it’s good, because it works in Europe for most of the time. And some people, or maybe many people in Europe, they try to be upset about their life. And they put these emotions on you. They are not satisfied every moment of their life. Oh, this is bad. Oh, this is bad. And so on. Oh, I need to work or I need to, but for instance, like mindset in America, but maybe it’s just my vision, but let’s see. Yeah, they are more.

Okay, let’s do it. It’s not like, oh, I need to go to job. It’s more like, yeah, we have to do it. Yeah, that’s cool. No, so this is just about our angle, how we these things. And yeah, I tried to see this in a positive way, everything was going on. And to believe in something good and beautiful. That’s why maybe I’m still in fashion. And they like to do these things because I think that it brings beauty to this world in a sense as well.

Absolutely, absolutely. I’m glad you’re saying this about America because we have a global audience. And I was dying to ask you a question about being a fashion expert in Europe and traveling to so many countries. So how does America stack up? How does America compare to let’s say European countries or even countries like Korea and Japan and Middle East and so forth, if you were to compare, give us sort of a high level comparison in terms of how fashionable, if you can call it that, how fashionable are Americans in comparison to French or Italians or Germans or British and so forth.

In other words, where is the true fashion originating from? And how do different countries that you’ve noticed and different populations, how do they feel about that?

Yeah, good question. It’s actually very different. I would say that America is more about freedom. And I feel myself, if I travel to different countries, even with the same suitcase, I dress differently. I style things differently. And in US, mostly, okay, I can’t say about the whole US because I can say only in particular, like a New York, Miami and the lay where I work all the time. Yeah, that I feel great. I feel so much inspiration. I feel freedom. And I was actually impressed and I liked that when I just put something, I go out on the street and they see random people who are like, wow, I love it. What are you wearing? Wow, that’s amazing. It brings you so much great emotions. And I don’t know how, but they notice cool things in you because I like, for instance, I like this boot.

Yeah, I put them, I go out and they notice it. But if I put the same boot somewhere in, okay, let’s say in Germany, they will look at you like you are crazy or what? Like, why are you wearing these? Oh, no, you are not black. You know, I went, I was working eight months in Germany. I went to the office like I dress in my way. Yeah, of course, it’s nothing crazy, but it’s not dark. It’s something, yeah, I use colors, I use style and so on. And they saw that people looked at me like, whoa, it’s unusual. It’s not very ordinary. And they used to be super ordinary in that. So in this case, Germany is very good in terms of production, but in terms of cars production, electronics and so on, but it comes to creativity, unfortunately, not. So people are not fashionable, but at the same time, they consume a lot of goods.

The Germany is one of the countries, or the country that’s consumed the most fashion, I mean, garments, yeah, clothes. But they can buy same time, one ordinary t-shirt or jeans for many, many years. And that’s it. But it will be always new, clean, and that’s a good aspect that it’s new and clean, but there’s still no creativity, no imagination, and so on. French, France, France, yeah, and French, of course, it’s a lot of style. You’ve got so much inspiration. I love going to Fashion Week to yeah, to France or to Milan, because it inspires you a lot. You see so beautiful people from around the world who express themselves, not in an already garbage, not in a grunge style, but in very cool, in very fashionable, in where, you know, like up to date, and it’s so cool to get all this views, inspiration, and so on.

Just, no, you feel the atmosphere. When you go to Berlin, it’s mostly trashy. Yeah, people think they are creative, but sorry not. They are really like trashy outfits, but they want to create something, and you can feel it, you can’t even, you know, express why, but you, but you feel, oh, this is beautiful, but this is, no. So France, Oh, we have, we do have some German audience in the, you know, our followers, but let’s, let’s hope they’re not going to take it too close to heart.

Yeah, it’s not, it’s not really personal. I’m taking, you know, like this, this is the, this is the vision from outside of vision of people, and they can explain why, because I also, you know, was doing cultural diplomacy, and I investigated all the things, and they worked with fashion diplomacy, how it’s in every country, you know, how people can represent themselves, and why it happens. Yeah, it’s how they, of course, there are creative people also in, yeah, in Germany, in big cities, in Munich, you can see that, but even if you look on the influencers of the number of influencers, and who are those people in different countries, it’s a little bit in Germany and Austria, but it’s a lot of you in US, in US, in much, there is much freedom of self expression. There is also a lot of style.

Yeah, they’re not really fashionable, because we have, and I have a lot of friends, and I’ve been a lot, yeah, to US places, and people go there, and they say, yeah, they can go to the restaurant in flip flops, and you know, there’s some shorts. Come on, we want to dress beautiful and go outside, but this is, this is US, you can, you know, you can see billionaires in shorts, and, but for instance, you go to Monaco, and everyone dress beautiful over there, because it’s like, it’s a vibe, and you want to do that. You are in beautiful places, it’s a historical buildings, they have history for more than 500 years, queens, some royal families were here, so you want to be, you know, in this surroundings, and this is, if you’re a creative person and you’re in the other countries, you feel that you’re so differently, and you can adapt, and you can feel how, how actually people leave, and by which values they leave, and how they express themselves.

Very interesting, very interesting comparisons, very cool. Let me ask you a different question. So if you met Anna 10 years ago, what advice would you give her? And what advice would you give a lot of the entrepreneurs, global entrepreneurs who are entering the fashion industry, or in the fashion industry, what is your sort of, what is your statement to them? But let’s go back first to, what would you say to yourself, to Anna of 10, 15 years ago?

You won’t believe, but I think she’s more cool, more free. She used to be, let’s say, five, 10 years ago, I had no obstacles, I had no fears, I did whatever I wanted, I realized unbelievable projects. Like, can you imagine, it was, I was, whatever, 30, 30 times, like five years ago, I went to Austria and launched an international… You don’t have to tell us about your age, that’s okay. We know that you’re barely 29, that’s okay. But still, five years ago, I went to Austria and launched office yet over there. And you can imagine there was no big brands like that before. And I don’t speak any German, I’m not originally from Austria. And we have a lot of these mental things, yes, ecologically and peculiarities that in Austria, they don’t accept foreigners, let’s say, on a deep level. So, but I didn’t have any fear, I knew what I wanted to do. I took an international brand, Otkuchur brand, they believed me.

I don’t know, I had so much, you know, like passion and power. And I said that I attracted people and they believed in the project, they came, we did a great job together. So, actually, yes, I am really proud of how I was 10 years ago and what I achieved after when I was a first-flying to New York. I had even no place to live in, but I did it and I know, okay, I want to study in FIT, that’s my goal, I’m going there. And now, I wish I don’t have these obstacles, because I really feel that I have more obstacles in my mind. Actually, a bit more fears appeared and I’m more cautious about things. And I would advise everyone to not be kept by these fears, don’t believe in obstacles and just feel what they want to do and go and do this. If you think a lot about things, they won’t happen. You just need to try to do mistakes and don’t blame you on these mistakes.

That’s my advice for myself, first of all, and to other people as well. To be brave to do things, that’s why I always look to you as side, how people do create these things, let’s say from one side, but somehow they succeed. And somehow, they got results, even they can’t really think of that, because it’s the atmosphere, it’s just the surrounding that stimulates you to do that. And yeah, so be free in the mind and be really dedicated to your wishes and your goals. I think it’s the main point.

It’s been actually a great discussion. I appreciate it so much. Let’s close our discussion with two topics that are kind of related, or at least I think they are. What’s next in fashion and what’s next for you?

What’s next for me? That’s a good question. I actually would like to answer that, but to be honest, I took some time for myself to understand even during this year, I traveled a lot, I’ve been to Bali, to Spain, to France, to Czech Republic, Germany, and so on, to see what’s going on in the world. And as I got used to big projects, for me, I’m gathering on my knowledge, experience, and so on. And I’m ready for big things, because actually small ones, years I do consulting of small projects, but it’s cool, but I can do big ones. And as I usually did, and it’s my topic, it’s my theme, I can do this. So I hope for some big projects coming to my life soon. Yeah. And I guess I’m ready for that, because I can give a lot to this world and I know how to do things.

And with that great experience from many, many countries, I think it’s very precious and valuable. And in fashion industry, I would say, and that also we are working on, it’s sustainable aspects that we need to be more conscious about this industry, because it’s the second most polluted industry, and that brings a lot of pollution to the world to water. And we see how the global, how the climate change, and it’s still, yeah, it’s cool, it’s hot in October, but we never had such temperature in the middle of October anywhere. And it’s really like it influenced the nature. And I’m very conscious about that, because it’s our planet, it’s our home in a big sense. And we need to think about that and take care of. So in fashion, I am a lot for sustainable aspects, upcycling, recycling, this carbon dioxide, yet to produce less, to make brands, not just clothes, but brands.

That’s why I’m stimulating brands to become brands and to do something great in the industry, you know, not just to produce some items, numerous governments and to sell more. But when when clothes is somehow a piece of art, when you can wear it for several seasons, and it’s still, and it’s still good. That’s why we need to invest and it’s zero carbon footprint as well, right? Is it even, is it even, is it even possible to create fashion that is zero carbon or near zero carbon footprint or highly sustainable? In other words, is this something that’s realistic?

Not sure, like 100%, but still, there is also some, some programs that you regulate it. For instance, like if you use these materials, but then you put something on charity on donation in green ecology. In some countries, they introduce the system. Or if you do recycle projects and a lot are doing this now, so it’s great. We don’t like waste. We don’t burn these items, but we redo this, yeah, in a way, recreate other governments. And if we, by ourself, are more conscious and we don’t buy a lot, it’s, it’s, it depends on everyone. If this is our approach and we think, okay, better, I would buy these clothes for one, two, three seasons, but I would skip fast fashion. I would skip like, you know, millions of things buying at the same time. And for me, it’s also my experience when I have to travel around for many, many countries.

It’s the biggest issue for me is a suitcase that I have to, you know, like I need all these clothes. And I guess, okay, it would be much better if it traveled by itself or if we have less, less items, less clothes, and we can, you know, style it maybe indifferently. That’s what, that’s, I’m also talking in my course about that, you that you don’t need a lot of things in your wardrobe. You just can’t restyle them. You just can add some accessories to the look and it will always look fresh, new, and it will suit to different occasions. So this is the whole mindset. If we change it step by step, I guess we can be on the right way.

And it’s been a actually fascinating discussion. I really appreciate your time today. We’d love to have you back on the show and talk more about fashion, talk about more about you, what’s, you know, what follow your footsteps, if you will. But thank you for being with us and we wish you all the best.

Thank you, Alex. I appreciate your invitation and this talk actually. It’s much better than talking with psychologists in a way. Yeah, because it’s also industry and psychology and so on and professional and I hope it will help a lot of people to hear something useful for themselves.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you, Alex.