KYIV (Reuters) – Yuliia Mykytenko smiles as she adjusts her latest trousers, confident she’s finally found a Ukrainian army uniform that matches after 10 months of war with Russia.
The tens of hundreds of ladies in Ukraine’s armed forces have long needed to make do with men’s uniforms. That’s now changing, because of volunteers who’ve began designing military clothing for girls.
“I do know that finding the correct uniform is an issue for many ladies. Some have hips too wide, or a chest too narrow. You possibly can’t loosen up uniforms within the armed forces,” Mykytenko, 27, told Reuters.
“So, if you happen to get a size 44, it may possibly be good on the hips but too big on the shoulders. Or a 46, or a 48.”
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Mykytenko joined the armed forces long before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion. Each her father and husband have been killed because the start of the war.
Before receiving her latest uniform, she faced many problems with army clothing designed for men which she said didn’t cater for girls’s wider hips and thinner waists.
“My waist is thinner. So I’d should either wear my trousers on the hips, or get an even bigger size. Then I’d should tie them in with a belt, in order that they would not hang or fall off,” she said.
She now has a uniform produced by Stanyslav Bitus, a clothier who volunteered his services.
“We had long thought of designing female military uniforms but did not have anywhere to do it,” he said.
That modified when a friend suggested using a non-governmental organisation’s premises.
Bitus’ latest line of labor comes with special demands.
“The kneecap pocket part could be very necessary whenever you fall on the bottom. Once you fall, it’s more comfortable,” he said.
“In male uniforms, the kneecap was much lower, and whenever you fell it rose up. This does not only not help but can bring on more trauma.”
(Reporting by Yurii Kovalenko, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.
