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Unleash your inner ancient Greek
By Dimi Gaidatzi
Published: May 14 2004 17:58 | Last Updated: May 14 2004 17:58
From Brad Pitt, imminently rampaging across screens everywhere as Achilles in Troy, to Colin Farrell as Alexander the Great in the forthcoming epic, the August Olympics in Athens, Celine's new "Olympic" mini-collection, Tod's Olympic shoe line, and Giorgio Armani's Faces of Sport book, it seems everybody is ready to unleash their inner ancient Greek. After "two decades of stagnation", as fashion features editor of Greek Vogue, Sandy Tsantaki, says, Greek designers are back in style. This summer, all retail roads lead past Olympus.
"Greek designers now feel that there's a possibility to go further and be more ambitious," says Tsantaki. "The timing is right."
Front and centre among them, of course, is Athens-born, London-based fashion designer, Sophia Kokosalaki, who is designing the costumes for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. For Kokosalaki, Greek style is all about trying to avoid the obvious. "They will be modern and minimal, without placing the folklore element centre stage," she says of the outfits.
Nostalgia is not Kokosalaki's thing and although her signature draping and folding might be a nod to her roots, she's really on a quest for modernism. "Usually, I try to keep in mind the plasticity of the ancient sculptures, with their focus on structure. But I try to combine all those elements into something that is contemporary, strong and unexpected," she says. "I have studied costumes and use whatever inspires me and is aesthetically challenging, but in a modern and understated way."
Thus this summer she created gorgeously draped mini dresses in shades from palest peach to caramel, pale blue and ivory. As she says: "Every season I try a new shape, a new colour, a new style, but I always try to keep a balance between the commercial and the creative. I like experimenting, but ultimately I want to make clothes that are not only experimental, but also wearable."
It's not the first time a Greek name has made fashion headlines. Jean Desses helped shape the refined 1950s, Yiannis Tseklenis took advantage of the 1970s, the body-conscious Nikos got the media's attention in the 1980s, and at the turn of the century, Greek-Americans like John Varvatos, king of American men's wear and Peter Speliopoulos, design director at Donna Karan, caused a stir. Now, following in Kokosalaki's footsteps, an entire generation is waiting to claim their place.
As up-and-coming Vasso Konsola says: "Greek style has long been a fountain of inspiration. It worked for the Paris couturier Madame Gres, it worked for Fortuni and Miyake - why should we reject it?"
In embracing it, however, this generation of designers is also pushing it a step further. Konsola, for example, creates her garments directly on a mannequin, without a pattern, making them one-of-a-kind works. Her bright knits and dresses in natural colours can be worn in different ways, leaving that final touch to the individual. "They follow the philosophy of the ancient Greek garment, where the body is free and not trapped," she says.
Similarly, although Yiorgos Eleftheriadis says "the all-time classic [style] is our originality", he also uses it to create contemporary fashion, focusing on loose forms, neutral colours and avant-garde details, such as sleeves that become braces. "There is an element of timelessness in the way the clothes work on the body and a feeling of light and freedom," Eleftheriadis says. "The Greek element exists, but only as a feeling."
The same might be said of the work of Angelos Frentzos, one of the most innovative Greek designers to emerge in the past few years, whose distinctive style is geared towards creating the perfect female silhouette. "Greeks are competitive not only on a level of ideas but also on a level of creativity," Dimitris Alexakis, of the Greek design duo Deux Hommes, says. Inspired by the Mediterranean silhouette and the architectural elements found in ancient-Greek garments, Deux Hommes make "body-conscious clothes, based on clarity and an understated notion of sexiness, where the structured silhouette is given a last-minute abstraction".
Then there's Greek-Cypriot Erotokritos, whose pretty knits, knee-length dresses and skirts are inspired by Chanel's structured silhouette, but whose signature vibrant colours and whimsical prints are all about "this touch of irony" and "the beautiful, bright daylight" characteristics of his culture. This is also the case for Thessaloniki-born, Paris-based Ioannis Guia, who since having made his debut in 1999, has combined his concept of the Greek spirit with the French tradition of tailoring and artisanship.
"What I perceive as a Greek element is not an obvious one, but something which has a sense of power and substance in the way I conceive the silhouette," says Guia, citing his anarchic details such as asymmetry, slashed, embroidered laces and nets, and innovative fabrics. "We should not underestimate Greek potential," says Guia. "Greeks can work miracles."
It is a miracle indeed that, although some of them have braved the leap abroad, the majority has stayed in Athens. The city doesn't have a fashion week, no fashion school in the tradition of the Belgian or the Japanese, no industry or infrastructure. But there is optimism. Pavlos Kyriakides, who has been on the scene since the late 1970s, says: "Ten years ago, the concept of the fashion designer didn't even exist." Today, there are 30 in Athens.
Being a Greek label, based in Greece, is hard. But as Konsola says: "It's worth doing our own revolution. The mentality that fashion can only be created in Paris or Milan has to be abolished. We can also produce new ideas."
FT.com
thats so great, thanks for posting this article runner, i know all these people very well, some of them are really talented.
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