There's a particular kind of ingenuity that only emerges under constraint. For Irina Dzhus, it began at five years old, poring over her grandmother's Soviet-era pattern making magazines — fashion as an escape portal in a world with empty shelves. It continued through a bootstrapped brand launch with no funding, through shortlistings for the International Woolmark Prize, through Paris Fashion Week. And then, in 2022, through war.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Irina fled Kyiv. Under martial law, leaving the country was not possible for everyone — and so production in Kyiv continued under extraordinary circumstances, a testament to the resilience of the DZHUS team. Irina rebuilt from Warsaw, then Paris, then Berlin — showing new collections at Fashion Weeks while processing displacement, loss, and survival. The clothes didn't flinch. If anything, they became more layered with meaning.
What makes DZHUS different
The word "transformer" gets used lazily in fashion. At DZHUS, it means something precise: a single garment engineered to become four or five entirely different things. A quilted hat unfolds into a bag or a harness sleeve. A skirt doubles as a hood. A jumpsuit restructures into wide-leg trousers, a cape, or a coat. These aren't party tricks — they're a philosophy about overproduction, ownership, and what it means to truly own something.
The construction is architectural. Geometric pleats, biomorphic silhouettes, exposed seams, raw edges, industrial metal hardware. Every piece is made to order, cruelty-free, zero pre-made stock. Even the packaging transforms — the branded tote bag can be worn as a dress. DZHUS won the Cruelty-free Fashion Prize at Best Fashion Awards Ukraine in 2019, and has been stocked in concept stores across Japan, Australia, Portugal, the US, and the UAE.
Who wears DZHUS
The avant-garde musicians Zola Jesus and EYIBRA. Jamala, the Eurovision 2016 winner. The wardrobe departments of The Hunger Games and Star Trek: Discovery. The person in your city who looks like they exist slightly ahead of the rest of us. DZHUS dressers are not following a trend — they are, as Irina puts it, people for whom clothing is "a material embodiment of their distinctive inner world."
Why Avant Gardist carries DZHUS
DZHUS is the exact convergence point that Avant Gardist was built to find: a designer with a fully realized philosophy, global critical recognition, and almost zero mainstream visibility outside the avant-garde circuit. Irina Dzhus is not trying to scale into department stores. She is building something singular — and that's precisely why it belongs here.
