Former prime minister of Ukraine
When Yulia Tymoshenko turned up for a rather routine meeting one spring day in 2009, hair pulled back into a simple bun, many Ukrainians were flabbergasted. The prime minister’s legendary plait, tightly pinned to her head like a crown for the better part of eight years, had become so entangled with her political identity that without it she looked startlingly unfamiliar. Tymoshenko’s blonde “wheel” had become much more than a contrived visual metaphor for Ukrainian nationalism; in a country that has seen massive change, it also stood for stability.
Tymoshenko’s image was once rather different: in the 1990s, she held a post in the fuel and energy ministry, and was the dark-haired “gas princess” who led the company that controlled most of Ukraine’s energy imports. She was reported to have become worth several billion dollars and, in a wardrobe of Louis Vuitton, she dressed the part. But then she was accused of corruption and in 2001 was sent to prison. The charges were eventually dropped, and when she was released she was considered a martyr. During the Orange Revolution of late 2004 and early 2005, Tymoshenko, by now stripped of most of her fortune, led mass protests that ultimately ushered her into power.