Meet the Ukrainian designer behind Zelensky's new look for Trump meeting

When Ukrainian designer Viktor Anisimov showed a new black suit last Friday Volodymyr Zelensky, it contained a small detail. A rear ventilation on the back sat closer to a civilian case, compared to the military outfits that the president benefited during the entire war in Ukraine. “This is our hope for peace,” Anisimov told Reuters about the adjustment. “We think that if we add something subtly to this image, something from civilian clothes to its uniform, it will be like a happy charm.” The Lucky Charm worked on Monday to set a warm tone for a meeting of the White House with US President Donald Trump. Moments after Zelensky arrived, Trump complimented him with the suit. Zelensky’s dark military-style outfit was one of the things against which twilies objected to at a disastrous Oval Office meeting in February, when the Ukrainian leader received a public crook. Anisimov, 61, from the northern region of Chernihiv, said he was watching videos of that interaction and feeling the Jabs. He considered them aimed at the Ukrainian citizens, not just at Zelensky. “There was a slight feeling of despair because they didn’t understand how we breathed, how we live,” he said. A reporter at the White House who asked Zelensky in February why he didn’t wear a suit also praised the Ukrainian Monday, saying “You look fantastic in that suit”. Anisimov said he did not look for criticism or compliments this time, but wanted to ensure that the Ukrainian president looked worthy. “They praise, they scold. If we win, and we will win, then the suit doesn’t matter, ‘he said. Zelensky wore military type of outfits, often with collarless shirts and heavy boots, to show solidarity with the troops of Ukraine, as Russia’s full -scale invasion was in February 2022. “In this moment, internally we all changed, everything has changed, life has changed. It was a point of no return,” Zelensky said in an interview with a Ukrainaine media later. Urgent request that the black suit worn on Monday was originally presented, along with an identical Navy option, as an outfit idea for the Ukrainian Independence Day on August 24. While the team goes back and forth on the back guy, Anisimov took it back for changes on Friday. Before he even had to make the adjustments on sleeves, the phone rang on Saturday with an urgent request from the administration – the president needed the case for his US trip. This was not the first time Anisimov was charged with changing the president’s style. In the early 2000s, then comedian Zelensky and his team “Kvartal 95” tried to establish their identities on the Ukrainian screens after receiving their first break in comedic competitions. The process was gradual: Black T-shirts made way for white shirts with tires and then turned into suits that the team wore during the shows. Anisimov said he had not heard about Zelensky for more than five years when a mutual acquaintance of the previous make-over contacted him in January. They flowed the idea of creating a capsule collection for the president. Anisimov said he uses the military uniform as an inspiration point to ensure versatility for all items in the capsule. “I can’t say that we (a suit) specifically for the NATO top or for an important conversation with Trump and European leaders. The pack is just a suit,” Anisimov said, adding that Zelensky has about five similar jackets with small adjustments. Since then, Ukrainian President Anisimov’s designs of the funeral of Pope Francis in April and a NATO summit in June, both occasions that contributed to bringing the US and Ukraine closer to each other after public split in February.