Until last week, the stories of Karina More, resident of the city of Kharkov, in Ukraineshowed images of women from around the world doing beauty treatments suggested by her.
Influencer on Instagram since 2018, Karina was known for selling a facial massage course. She already had a large audience – today it has 1 million followers – and her profile had good engagement, full of likes and comments.
Her most recent beauty post was on the 19th of February. But after a few days of silence, on Friday, February 25, the matter was different: Karina, like thousands of Ukrainians, was fleeing the country with few belongings and her son in her car. The Russian invasion had begun.
Since then, Karina’s followers have started sending messages of concern. The images that appeared in her stories shocked: Karina had a different appearance, another tone of voice, another subject and another landscape. She disappeared that serene expression of someone who teaches facial massage. Gone are the “before and after” photos of your clients.
To leave Ukraine and reach Moldova, which, according to her messages, was her destination, she would have to cross the entire country and not be able to communicate.
Visiting a lifestyle influencer’s Instagram profile is like seeing a landscape of beautiful images. Beauty products, cinematic photos, well-groomed faces, health tips, restaurants, cuddly pets. With Ukrainian bloggers it was no different. Until the war came. Immediately, the images are replaced by photos of destroyed cities, children with their families carrying suitcases and packages, as well as emotional testimonial videos.
Karina and her son slept in the car, where they stayed, according to her, for more than 3 days traveling. As soon as she got a connection, she started posting links to institutions that are accepting donations to help Ukrainians. As she has also done bloggers from other countries – including Chiara Ferragni, an Italian from Milan, for her more than 26 million followers.
During the Paris Fashion Week, which is still happening, some influencers did the same, like the former Brazilian model Isabela Fiorentino, who also spoke about the war between one show and another in Paris. “Many brands are canceling their post-show celebrations out of respect for what is happening,” she said in one of her videos. Paris is closer to Kiev than São Paulo to Recife.
Brazilian influencer Lu Tranchesi reposted and translated a publication by the famous makeup artist Nam Vo, who has 372k followers and is a celebrity in his field. She is part of a group of makeup artists who work for Shop My Shelf, a company that curates and verifies beauty products, founded by Harvard technologists. “I’m washing my face before I go to sleep while a country is on fire,” she said in the first sentence.
Diana Razumow, born in the United States and of Ukrainian origin, has been following all the news and has mobilized to help the country. “I’m in contact with Ukrainian bloggers and I see great support here in Philadelphia from people working in the same field. Glad to see people care,” she says.
“I have been posting information about what is happening on my page and I noticed that non-Ukrainian citizens are posting as well. We update with videos, photos and inspirational messages about Ukraine. The American bloggers I know are organizing donations, raising funds,” she continued to influence in an email interview with CNN.
Diana works with Marketing and Advertising and has always used her profile on the social network for fashion, gastronomy and decoration publications. She had planned to visit her relatives in Ukraine next summer, but now she doesn’t know when or how she will go.
It is not easy for those who work with social media content to position themselves, although it is considered so easy for those who are terrified by the war. Every word needs to be measured, every fact checked.
So much so that Imran Amed, editor and founder of “Business of Fashion”, one of the most important fashion vehicles in the world, published an article about it this week. “Talk about the war or be silent?” he asked in a message on his Instagram, as well as an article on the website. Imran chose to speak.
An important sector of the economy, both in Brazil and in the world, the beauty industry still suffers from prejudice around its influencers. They will likely be criticized, positioning themselves or not. But having the timeline invaded by war news makes them more human and beaten down by reality.
Kharkov, the city where Karina More lived eight years ago, was invaded by the Russians this Wednesday, March 2.
Source: CNN Brasil
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