Interview: Roma Rush

By Olena Wawryshyn

When you ask fashion designer Roma Kulyk how long it took her to prepare for the launch of her new Toronto boutique she readily replies: “All my life.”

Though she later concedes that the intensive planning took four years, it becomes clear during an interview at her stylish Queen St. W. boutique, called Roma Rush, that fashion has indeed been her life-long passion.

The clothes Roma designs, produces and sells at Roma Rush are flawlessly made out of the finest fabrics.  Her line of clothing—ranging from sportwear to evening wear–is girly, feminine and gorgeous.

“I’m inspired by the European designers, mainly the Italians and French,” says Roma. “Whether it’s Blumarin or Blugirl, Armani, Valentino or Lagerfeld, the masters of cut and beauty, using incredible fabrics with an impeccable finish.”

Roma’s business is divided into three parts: ready-to-wear, custom made-to-measure and a lifestyle division featuring home-decor items, such as one-of-a-kind cushions, in stunning luxurious fabrics.

With the ready-to-wear collection, Roma says she will produce “four to five items of a style, once” which makes her collection appealing to women who enjoy the cache of having pieces that are unique.

“If you don’t buy a certain skirt from me now, you will never get it again. I will never use the same fabrics or bindings…the cut may re-appear, but I will repeat it in different fabrications, and it will look totally different.”

Even items that appear similar, on closer inspection, are often original creations, as Roma is constantly experimenting with detailing.

Roma Kulyk (nee Hupaliwska) first started honing her sewing skills when she was 12, when her mother, noticing her interest in clothes, bought her a sewing machine.

Her parents, immigrants from Ukraine who settled in Montreal, had a friend, Mr. Romanyshyn, a tailor, who was enlisted to give Roma lessons: “He taught me some of the basic sewing and tailoring skills, so when I was young, I had already mastered how to do tailoring – jackets and pants—which are more difficult than dress-making.”

Another family friend, Mr. Kuzyk, “worked in a factory where he sewed leather goods…They both had [industrial sewing machines] set up in their basements, and I was mesmerized by it all,” she says.

Roma made clothes for her mother, friends and herself. But after high school she studied political science at university. “All Ukrainians have to study political science in Eastern European studies,” Roma jokes. “I did find [it] interesting, but it wasn’t a passion.”

Eventually, she also got a degree in business administration and economics. But, “at night, I started take courses in design (at Concordia University) because they fascinated me.”

After graduating, she landed a job at The Bay where she gained experience in various areas of fashion retail.

She moved to Toronto in the 1980s, and by then was working in the department store’s buying department. “I bought designer-type clothing. For me that was heaven to get on a plane and go to Florence and preview various lines and go to fashion shows with all these gorgeous models on the runway, and you get to choose which one of those outfits are going to be in the store.”

A decade of travel to the fashion industry capitals of the world, such as Paris, Florence, Hong Kong and Delhi, followed, first for The Bay and later for Forsyth, a company that manufactures for private labels, like Pierre Cardin and Daniel Hechter.

Later, she was also designing and supervising production.  But travelling took its toll: “I used to wake up not knowing where I was.”  So, Roma quit and started a business in Toronto, sewing made-to-measure outfits as a freelancer.

In Toronto, Roma bought a historic building, which now houses Roma Rush. She and her husband Roman lived upstairs while they painstakingly renovated the ground floor to its current upscale interior, done up in Roma Rush’s trademark blue and pink colours. In the process, they uncovered original architectural features, such as a skylight, that now draws light into the basement workshop where Roma and her team produce her designs.

Roma says she is always looking for ways to integrate her heritage into her business. She has hired a Ukrainian-speaking seamstress who embroiders and plans to incorporate Ukrainian motifs into her spring designs, much like designer Jean Paul Gaultier did recently. She is excited about a possible trip to Ukraine to gather inspiration and possibly source people to sew for her.

Even in the name of her store, she’s managed to surreptitiously slip in a Ukrainian connection. “The word “Rush” means a lot to me, it sounds like “Rus” (as in Kievan Rus’), she quips. Also, in the industry, “there are always deadlines,” and one has to “rush.”

But “rush” can also mean "a sudden surge or sensation." “I want people to get a rush from the experience of being in my store, of seeing my fashion, of being in the environment,” says Roma.

Indeed, it’s the latter definition that applies best–for in Roma’s presence and at Roma Rush, where attention to detail is paramount, one senses the inspirational energy of someone who not only loves what she does, but who does it exceedingly well.