The Ruslan Baginskiy brand in the window displays of Galeries Lafayette

This summer, the Ukrainian brand Ruslan Baginskiy celebrates its tenth anniversary with a historic event in the heart of global fashion — Paris. As part of the anniversary project, the Ukrainian designer and invited guest of Galeries Lafayette created the design for 12 main window displays, a pop-up, and opened a shop-in-shop brand store on the second floor of one of the world’s most famous department stores — Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann.

The main building of Galeries Lafayette — an outstanding architectural landmark built in 1912 — has remained for over a century not only a tourist attraction but also a key platform of global fashion. Every year, Galeries Lafayette welcomes 27 million visitors and holds the lead in sales among European department stores. The facade of this iconic building was decorated with a specially created Ruslan Baginskiy banner in blue and yellow colors, covering an area of 140 m².

The project was included in the couture program of the official Paris Fashion Week, emphasizing the significance of the event for Ukrainian design on the international stage.

The Galeries Lafayette windows are a special cultural space where new visual languages and narratives have been born since the early 20th century. Over the years, these windows have been designed by brands such as Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Jacquemus. For the first time in the history of the Ukrainian fashion industry, the brand executed a takeover of this scale.

The Ruslan Baginskiy installation can be seen on the streets of Paris from July 8 to August 25.

“For me and my team, this is more than a project — it is an important moment dedicated to Ukrainian culture: its strength, elegance, creativity, and ability to inspire the whole world. It’s a story about our home with great love for who we are. Every day, thousands of people visiting Paris this summer will see the windows. We believe in the language of culture, and each window in the city center is our voice,” says Ruslan Baginskiy.

The visual narrative, called Ruslan Baginskiy Tales, combines contemporary design, traditional techniques, and an artistic interpretation of Ukrainian identity. The 12 windows are designed as an open-air exhibition, each revealing a separate story. Among the displays are:

• A window dedicated to wicker weaving from the village of Iza — a unique technique listed as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. The brand created a namesake bag with the masters from Iza in summer 2023.
• A window with mannequins inspired by the works of Kazimir Malevich, resonating with the Ukrainian avant-garde.
• A pair of windows in blue and yellow: featuring an enlarged ‘baker boy cap’ inspired by traditional tin and scaled-up RB bag charms shaped like Ukrainian birds.

“I wanted the windows not just to show the product but to tell the story of its cultural origin. That’s where the idea of a street exhibition format came from — a story that speaks about Ukraine and the beauty that must be preserved.”

The designer involved contemporary Ukrainian artists and craftsmen in the project: the carpet for the Ruslan Baginskiy store area was created by Yaroslav Kushchu using tufting technique. Dasha Imshenetska designed a unique dinnerware set inspired by the shapes of RB collections. Justyna Gryzlyuk worked on the color palette and mannequins for the windows. The wooden birds were made by Ilona Tsvetkova.

Guests and friends of the brand received a special physical invitation — a collectible bag charm in the shape of a titmouse, the little bird that was the first to “announce” the event launch.

Ruslan Baginskiy Tales can be seen from July 8 to August 25, 2025, at Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann.