Against the odds: How Vogue Ukraine became part of the resistance
Vogue Ukraine’s return to print this month for the first time in a year is a remarkable triumph over adversity. Working from shelters and often without power as Russian bombs rained down on Kyiv and other cities, the magazine’s team managed to pull together to keep the title going and bring out a new commemorative edition featuring profiles of people from all walks of life contributing to the resistance.
“It’s a documentation of the war and a reflection on it,” says Julia Kostetska, Vogue Ukraine Publisher and CEO of Vanguard Media, which has a licensing agreement with Condé Nast to publish the magazine in the country. “Being back in print is our contribution to the collective resistance. We are motivated and inspired by the fact that we can stay in business, keep jobs, create content, and tell people’s stories while supporting our readership.
“So many titles have gone out of business or put their operations on hold that it almost seemed like print media was dying out. We have proven that’s not true and shown that it can still be done in a meaningful and tangible way.
“We believe that by doing so, we are not only sending a message of hope and reassurance to our readers, but also building trust among Vogue Ukraine’s clients, international partners, and colleagues in other media. For us at Vogue, it means that we can do what we do best, contributing to the economy and society.”
Billed as the ‘The Road of Unbreakable’ edition, the new issue includes a massive 50+ portfolio of people making a contribution to the resistance – politicians and military members, human rights activists, designers, artists and journalists.
Among those featured are Olena Zalenska, wife of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky; Nobel Prize-winning human rights activist Oleksandra Matviichuk; football star Andriy Shevchenko and Eurovision winner Jamala, who were all photographed by long-time collaborators across the country.
The striking cover is an abstract blue and yellow image taken by Kyiv-based photographer Vasylyna Vrublevska as part of her ongoing art project The Garden of Nothing.
Courage under fire
Like all media outlets in the country, Vogue Ukraine has shown extraordinary resilience to keep operations going. Despite team members being scattered around Europe and different parts of Ukraine after the outbreak of the war, the magazine kept uploading content on digital platform Vogue.ua and also published a special book: 9½ Years of Vogue in Ukraine – created by those who previously worked on the print edition of the magazine.
“No one teaches you to produce a magazine during wartime – from people being far away from each other, to advertisers putting their businesses on hold and us needing to find alternative ways to support the magazine and Vogue UA, and reaching our subjects who were sometimes literally on the front lines.
“There were so many obstacles and issues that we had to deal with. But one thing we learned as a nation is that nothing is impossible. We had to fight many battles to make The Road of Unbreakable issue a reality, but the gratitude we experience when we see people appreciate the effort was all worth it.”
Kostetska describes picking the right content for the first edition in a year as a “long and sometimes intense process”.
“There were many discussions, heated arguments, and debates,” she explains. “As we worked on the issue, we all agreed that this would be a collective effort and that everyone’s input and opinion mattered. It helped that we were all scattered in different places, and each had our own experiences with the war and life going on.
“Optics was crucial, we were making this magazine for our readers, and we had to be extremely sensitive to the content we were producing and the stories we wanted to tell. Ultimately, we wanted to encourage and inspire our readers to persevere and strengthen our shared belief in victory.”
The Road of Unbreakable issue is available at selected newsstands nationwide and online for international orders.
