On May 21-22, on invitation of the company Nemiroff, the first international sponsor of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, Kyiv was visited by the famous French couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier. This was the first visit by the great master to Ukraine, so his agenda promised to be very busy. From the very first minutes of the famous fashion designer’s stay on Ukrainian soil, Mr. Gaultier became acquainted with our country, its people and culture with great interest, vividly absorbing new sensations and impressions, emotionally sharing them with the people around him, in particular, with representatives of leading national publications during the press lunch in the restaurant “Tsarske selo” (“Czar’s Village”). There he was presented with a special gift from Nemiroff: a shirt made of homespun flax and lavishly adorned with embroidery in green and brown shades, a technique characteristic of southwestern Ukraine. Despite his world fame and the star status, the honored guest had no special requirements of his hosts, except for the wish to try national dishes cuisine and visit an Orthodox Church service. And these were completely fulfilled: at dinners and suppers in the Ukrainian cuisine restaurants, Mr. Gaultier had the chance to taste traditional borshch, varenyky, homemade salo and sausages, and other treats, for which most opportunely for the occasion the well known and most appropriate beverage for such meals was served - Nemiroff Honey Vodka with Pepper. The sightseeing program of the VIP guest included visiting St. Sophia and St. Michael Cathedrals and a tour of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, where he visited expositions of the State Museum of Ukrainian Folk and Decorative Art and the Ivan Gonchar Museum. The national costume exhibit impressed Mr. Gaultier, having aroused his special professional interest and unconcealed delight: practically all exhibits of the collection were photographed on his request. And the fabled couturier’s thorough study of clothing elements with embroidery and beadwork gives every reason to believe that similar solutions will soon be seen on fashionable Parisian podiums. The VIP guest also visited Andriyivskiy Uzviz. Not only did J.-P. Gaultier pay numerous compliments to the ancient Ukrainian architecture, beautiful stylish Kyiv ladies and cordial Kyivans (he was often recognized on the street and a few vendors from Andriyivskiy Uzviz presented the maestro with gifts as a keepsake of Kyiv). One more result of Mr. Gaultier’s unhurried two-hour stroll around Kyiv’s streets became the replenishment of his private collection of national costumes with almost thirty new exhibits. Among the latest acquisitions are lavishly embroidered men’s and ladies’ linen shirts, plakhta skirts, Cossack-style trousers, traditional kyptaryk vests and girdles. As for the Eurovision 2005 final concert that Mr. Gaultier expected to visit in the first place when planning his visit to Kyiv, the guest particularly marked the brilliance of the show and its excellent organization. Natalia Konovalova, the head of the Public Relations Department of Ukrainian Vodka Company Nemiroff: «Today interest in our country is very high in the world and the visit to Ukraine of one of the world’s leading couturiers – Mr. Gaultier – brings this out clearly. It is especially pleasant that our guest has gotten very agreeable impressions both from Kyiv and the final concert of Eurovision 2005, the first international sponsor of which became the company Nemiroff. J.-P. Gaultier admired the diversity and uniqueness of our people’s traditions, which find expression in everything – either in the luxurious magnificence of icons in Orthodox churches, the beautiful charm of Podil’s narrow streets or the genial cordiality of Kyivans toward the city’s guests visiting it during these May days. I guess that the echo of Mr. Gaultier’s impressions from his brief but very bright “Ukrainian period” in his life will also find their incarnation in the creative work of the great couturier”.