Ukraine’s Sasha Kanevskyi is a designer in Kanye West’s team. What you need to know about him

After graduating from school, Kanevskyi, following the advice of his mother who worked as a clothing designer, enrolled at Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design. However, he became really interested in creating clothes only when he was in his third year of study.

Before launching his own brand, Kanevskyi wanted to work for Lilia Poustovit. However, she refused to employ Sasha, deeming him too promising of a designer, after which he decided to launch his own project.

His first brand was self-titled label sasha.kanevski, launched in 2008. But soon, he realized that the looks, created by that brand, were too niche for ordinary customers. That’s why in 2014, Kanevskyi launched Übernormal, a brand of basic clothes without any prints or logos.

Sasha was promoting his first brand abroad: sasha.kanevski even had a showroom in Paris. However, the avant-garde brand was more interesting for the media, than for buyers. So in terms of profitability, Übernormal was more of a successful project for him.

Among his achievements, there are the creation of stage costumes for Ukrainian rock-band Esthetic Education, collaborations with Pilsok, Ali Saulidi, and a victory in Ukraine Bazaar Fashion Forward in 2009, the first Harper’s Bazaar contest. In 2012, Kanevskyi was included in the list of the most interesting European designers according to the US edition Refinery29.

Kanevskyi’s bureau was creating the design of clothes: the team was creating samples, templates, layouts and was preparing them to be released for the production. Among the bureau’s clients were both Ukrainian and foreign brands.

For instance, Sasha’s team was working with the Ukrainian mass-market brand Arber for three months. The bureau devised the design, identity, and a brand book for the Freedom by Arber fashion line which included sportswear and casual wear.

Such foreign companies as Pepsi, L’Oréal, and Martini were listed in the portfolio. Besides, Kanevskyi’s agency was working with an untitled brand from the US.

Another special thing about Sasha is his desire to hold unique shows. For example, the decoration for the sasha.kanevski show in Germany in 2017 was decided to be done in the Soviet style. To achieve it, Kanevskyi and his team brought several old carpets to Berlin from Kyiv, while the rest of the decorations, such as Soviet-style furniture and tableware, they found in one of Berlin’s film studios. After the show, they entertained the guests offering them to drink vodka and snack on pickles.

During studying at the university, Kanevskyi and his classmates were not allowed to read magazines before they would have finished studying the basic literature. ‘So we would copy nothing’, the designer explained in the interview.

‘It happens subconsciously: I love Lady Gaga and Madonna, so I draw their images. We were taught to think not in terms of “a dress” or “a blouse”, but in terms of “a spot”, “a line”, and “a silhouette”’, Sasha adds.

Based on Sasha’s posts, he attended Kanye’s Sunday services more than once, was at his performance at Coachella in 2019 as well as helped West to hold the first Yeezy show in Paris last March.

It’s not known how negotiations between Kanevskyi and West were going. Before joining Yeezy team, he was saying that he planned to develop his Ukrainian brands.

‘I don’t see myself in it. Basically, it’s clear what strings to pull and who to speak to. But I like working in Ukraine. The fashion industry only starts developing here, the market is an emerging one. There are certainly opportunities and some kind of a gambling spirit’, Sasha said about the prospect of working abroad.

However, in 2017, Instagram accounts of Übernormal and sasha.kanevski stopped being updated, and the Übernormal website, despite still working, is not active.

DTF Magazine contacted Sasha for comments and clarifications, however, a reply has not been received.