Started as a stylist a decade ago, Ruslan Baginskiy launched his namesake brand in 2015 in his native Lviv town in Ukraine.
Passionate about the hats design, he was keen to bring back the past glory of these headgears. The challenge succeeded, as the hats singed RB adorn the most beautiful and famous heads all over the world.
Among the RB growing family, there are Madonna, Bella and Gigi Hadid, Kaia Gerber, Taylor Swift, Pamela Anderson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Janelle Monáe, Anna Dello Russo, Coco Rocha, Miley Cyrus, Nicky Hilton and Alicia Keys.
The brand has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, V Magazine, ELLE, Marie Claire, Glamor, Garage Magazine and many other international magazines.
On February 25 we had tickets to Paris, where the fashion week was supposed to begin. Fashion week started on schedule, but we were not there. While influencers were running to shows in Paris, and designers were presenting new collections, we had to flee to Lviv.
Lviv is my hometown, so the decision was logical. The first days were critical, the whole world did not believe that we could fight for more than three days.
The headwear brand Ruslan Baginskiy was founded in 2015 in my hometown Lviv. We work according to the schedule of fashion weeks, so we went to Paris 4 times a year to show new collections to buyers and the press, but our entire team, office and production is based in Ukraine.
I think the key to that is that the hat can really make a look. It can make you seen, and highlight your appearance. We all longing for that. And as for me it’s an essential part of the wardrobe. Everyone can wear a hat; you just need to find your shape. I really appreciate that many of celebrities love our creations. And I love all our client and for me they all influencers.
When I create new collections, I feel pretty relaxed about trend and let myself to play my own game. Of course, there are waves and you need to know how to ride and embrace them, but don’t try to catch every one of it. I’m moving focused on timeless design; I want to create hats that will serve my clients for years and they can pass them to their kids. But also, I always want to have fun and create something that can make you feel cool with any outfit.
We are building an international brand, but we have always emphasized Ukrainian roots. We collaborated with Ukrainian models and photographers, shot campaigns in different regions of the country, many details that embellish the hats are inspired by Ukraine. And two couture collections of the brand are completely dedicated to the Ukrainian cultural heritage.
For our brand for sure it was the moment when we created a custom hat for Madonna’s shooting for Vogue Italy. We created about 10 different styles for her and this was so important for us that our assistant personally delivered the hats for her to Portugal. The moment the issue was out I could not believe my dream came true.
It was my biggest dream to create couture line and since 2019 my dream came true and we create couture collection. For me it’s a real art where you have no boundaries.
When I started to create hats, it was very important for me to learn hat craft properly with its old traditions and techniques. Now we use different crafts from handmade to upcycle.
I know now it’s may be overwhelming to cope with all these digital activities. But that’s just new world we all living in. I see it as a building our own community on social media, where I can broadcast my own view, things that inspires me, share moments of my life and my values.
Well, let’s say we had no choice but to use this time wisely. Me and part of my team was traveling a lot due to expand our brand and business. And there were always things we never had chance to manage properly. So, we had finally an opportunity to rearrange some eternal system, we rebuilt the production and made renovation in our showroom in Kyiv.
Even now we don’t stop working on our projects and preparing few of them. Hope soon we will have chance to release one of them. There been a lot of challenges for the past years. But we believe that it is very important not to give up and not to postpone. I see our duty now to continue working and spread awareness about Ukraine and Ukrainian culture.
