Runway

Between Two Worlds: Guranda’s SS27

Guranda blends architectural silhouettes and maximalist femininity for event dressing. After relocating from Kherson to Mukachevo due to the war, the brand's SS27 collection "Unseen" drew on Carpathian folklore's niavka, playing with concealed and revealed, soft and structured. Standout pieces featured pearlescent fabrics, signature basques, and an icy blue-silver palette.

By Alfonso de Hoyos-Acosta

Updated 06:18 pm EDT, September 11, 2026

Published 04:16 pm EDT, September 11, 2026

Photo Courtesy: Ukrainian Fashion Week
Runway Photographer: Volodymyr Bosak
Backstage Photographer: Serhiy Khandusenko
Special Thanks: Yelyzaveta Ushcheka

Updated 06:18 pm EDT, September 11, 2026

Published 04:16 pm EDT, September 11, 2026

Photo Courtesy: Ukrainian Fashion Week
Runway Photographer: Volodymyr Bosak
Backstage Photographer: Serhiy Khandusenko
Special Thanks: Yelyzaveta Ushcheka

Guranda is a Ukrainian brand founded in 2026 by Olena Guranda in Kherson. She began designing at age eight, inspired by the strong women around her, and her aesthetic aligns with her admiration for confident women, with a distinctly feminine edge. Olena’s designs are known for their architectural silhouettes, bold feminine shapes, and highly embellished garments for grand events. She celebrates women’s self‑expression, confidence, and glamour. The brand’s overall artistic vision is maximalist femininity and “more‑is‑more” styling, which produces clothes that look like they were built for the spotlight.

Today, we had the opportunity to know deeply about the brand through “Unseen”, presented in Ukranian Fashion week SS27

Although Olena’s emotional homeland is Kherson, the 2022 invasion brought significant changes for the brand. Under duress, they had to move production from Kherson to Mukachevo due to the occupation. Although moving under these conditions was heartbreaking, Mukachevo is glorious, with Austro-Hungarian-influenced architecture, cafés, and pedestrian streets that bring a slower, more peaceful rhythm of life. It is a city with mountain views of the Carpathians and a warm, multicultural energy (Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian communities). It’s one of the Ukrainian cities that remained relatively safe during the war, which is why many designers and small brands, including Guranda, relocated there.

Recently, Guranda presented its SS27 collection, called “Unseen”, which was inspired by the niavka. Niavka is an enigmatic female figure from Carpathian mythology who, in Ukrainian folklore, exists between the human and otherworldly realms. Olena stated, “For this collection, it was important for me to convey not a literal image of the niavka, but rather its feeling — its mystery, fluidity, and ability to exist between two worlds. I wanted each piece to have its own character without revealing it immediately, like an image that can’t be fully grasped at first glance.”

Concealed, Revealed

Olena expressed this duality through the collection’s silhouettes. “Unseen” presents babydoll dresses that conceal the body’s natural contours beneath volume, creating a sense of elusiveness. By contrast, the brand’s signature basques, which are structured, sculpted extensions of a bodice that flares out over the hips, are found throughout the collection. This distinctive element appears in both lace dresses and relaxed suits with wide-leg trousers and robe-like jackets. The precise lines of the basque coexist with soft, fluid volumes.

The same contrast runs through the textures, with delicate lace set against dense denim, and shimmering stones meeting metal studs. Her color palette was lovely, with milky and white tones paired with icy blue and silver. Again, you can sense the interplay of feelings of sheer and dense, soft and rigid, weightless and tangible through the materials and colors of the collection. It is a thoughtful collection that explores the beauty of revealed and hidden emotions and gives the sense of women moving through a real-life, ghostly lens.

Ethereal, Yet Statement-Making

A distinctive part of the collection is the dresses embellished with beads resembling frozen raindrops. Their surface creates a sense of movement, evoking the fluidity of water and giving the collection an ethereal lightness.

One outstanding piece from the collection was a fabulous blouse-and-long-skirt combination in a pearlescent gray-silver pattern with voluminous full-length sleeves. The bodice had its signature basque, which provides structure and elevates the blouse into a true statement piece. The blouse also features a salaciously deep neckline, juxtaposed with full sleeves and draping. The skirt is sly and flirty, though full and floor-length. You can see slits and structure that show the legs and the model’s grace as she walks down the runway. This dress was beautiful and substantial, yet through the power of design, it was also airy and sexy.

The same fabric appeared in another standout look. It was a full blouse in the gray-silver pattern with an ice-blue mini-skirt embellished with brilliant stones encased in metallic studs. The blouse was very full, with a mock turtleneck and exaggerated sleeves with ruffles circling the elbow. It is reminiscent of a Renaissance flowy top, but paired with a very structured, embellished skirt. It was playful and frankly quite beautiful.

With “Unseen”, the brand turned to a mythological figure deeply rooted in Ukrainian culture, while deliberately moving beyond a direct folkloric interpretation to inspire modern women. Guranda’s future is already being influenced by its relocation to Mukachevo and its strong identity in maximalist femininity. Guranda’s niche is well established with its focus on event dressing. The future is about owning that category, and we at Avessa are excited for Guranda to dominate and show the world that art and beauty will always survive the deadliest trials life and totalitarian dictators throw at us.

The Collection

Alfonso de Hoyos-Acosta

Chief Creative Writing Officer

Recovering from an obsession with Italian-designed menswear, Alfonso decided to take a deeper look into women’s fashion to see how our relationship among clothing, society, and business has changed. Educated as an economist with an MBA, he travels between Chicago, Miami, and Mexico on a search to see what happens next to fashion.

Tags: Ukrainian Fashion Week, Ukrainian Fashion Week SS27

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