COLUMBUS, Ohio — Celebrity fashion designer, Natalia Fedner will make a return home for Fashion Week Columbus while raising awareness and support for Ukraine.

Fedner, born in Ukraine, fled the country with her parents around the age of six. Settling in Columbus, she said her mom got her into art classes at the Columbus College of Art and Design.

What You Need To Know

  • Dollars raised throughout Fashion Week Columbus and her speakers’ fee will go to the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio

  • Fedner fled Ukraine with her parents at a young age

  • Money raised will help provide Ukrainians with items such as tourniquets and warm clothes

  • To learn more, click here

 With the help of scholarship dollars, Fedner learned a great deal. 

Having worked with the likes of Calvin Klein and Donna Karan, Fedner eventually established her own brand. Working in Los Angeles now and designing for celebrities like Beyonce, Charlize Theron, and Alicia Keys, Fedner’s drawn attention for her patented work with metal clothing designs that form to the body like stretch fabric. 

While she’s been able to travel the globe and share her work, Fedner is committed to helping Ukrainians.

“I think there's nothing more American than helping, so it doesn't matter that I'm Ukrainian. It doesn't matter that I was a refugee," Fedner said. "What matters is that I'm American. And I see an opportunity to help and I hope that other people, when they listen to this, they feel an impetus to help as well.” 

Fedner said while she’s not in the country and often feels helpless, partnering with the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio is just one way she’s trying to pay it forward.

“I know what it's like to have to leave everything you've ever known and to take very few things with you," she said. "So as this war in Ukraine has been unfolding, I can't help but see a mirror to some of the experiences I had as a child.” 

Dollars raised throughout Fashion Week Columbus and her speakers’ fee will go to the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio. The organization, which has been around since the 80s, is helping to provide humanitarian aid for warm clothes, tourniquets and drones needed to fight in the war. 

Connecting with Fedner couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.

Watching the war between Russia and Ukraine continue has been tough, Natalia Lebedin, President of the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio, explained, as attention in the media has waned compared to when it first started.

“In the beginning, it was pretty easy to ask for donations and receive them," Lebedin said. “Then there was a lull, and it was difficult to be that middle person.”

Lebedin never imagined working with Fedner, but said it was inspiring and amazing to have connected with her.

“This is a lifelong, generation-spanning frustration and injustice that is now finally coming to light," Lebedin said.

For Fedner, there’s an excitement stirring as she prepares to come to Columbus.

Columbus was the first place she held her very first fashion show in high school. Now, she’s coming back as the headline designer for the annual finale runway show for Fashion Week Columbus with an opportunity to keep Ukraine in the forefront, and to “make sure that people don't forget that this is still an ongoing war.”

For more information on the Ukrainian Cultural Association of Ohio, click here. 

Editor’s Note: This article previously misquoted the nationality of Natalia Fedner. The article has been edited to correct it. (10/04/22)