Thursday 29 October 2009

Fashion Week Athens SS2010 - Overview

So, Fashion Week Athens ended this past Sunday. You've probably already read all my other FWA posts and I guess you're a bit tired of the whole thing by now (like I am), so let's wrap it up!

Due to my recent traveling schedule, I missed the two first days, namely Thursday and Friday. But when I did get myself down to Gazi last Saturday, the image that greeted me was this:

The cataclysmic rain had flooded the courtyard of the Technopolis building complex and the FWA people were anxiously trying to pump the waters out and make the place fashion-worthy once again.

A wet fashionista is an unhappy fashionista - no one wants that!

Anyway, things were a lot dryer inside the hair-and-make-up room. And waaaay crazier. Those MAC make-up girls sure know how to yell right next to your ear. Ouch.

And then there were the shows... I myself only got to see the Next Generation show on Sunday as I was either absent or running around backstage, so I'll have to base my opinions on the photos I borrowed from the kind people over at JGK.

It's not hard to observe that the dominant colour of the season was white. It was widely present in almost all the collections and I loved the innocence and pureness it evoked.
[Giannetos - Ugo Zaldi - Victoria Kyriakides]

Other than white, pastels were major too, but in a more subtle, non-kitchy palette and combined with black details. Très chic!
[Katerina Alexandraki]

I have to say, I was very happy to see that all three of last year's newcomers each had their own proper show, and with great success and acceptance from the fashion crowd.
[Dimitri Zafiriou - Dimitris Petrou - DElight]

I specially loved Dimitri Zafiriou's styling.
So retro-modern!
[Dimitri Zafiriou]

And the way DElight use block colours by sewing their pattern pieces together will never cease to fascinate me.

[DElight]

But if I had to choose one outfit to wear all summer long next season, it would be this simple skirt and white top ensemble. Pure summer perfection!

[Samantha Sotos]

That's what I thought of the actual clothes.

But overall, this FWA left me feeling numb. As I said before, I had expressed my initial concerns in this post, published on October 13th. That was 10 days before the opening date and even then only a handful of people knew it was going to take place! Trouble in Paradise did cast some light on the situation, but still... I really hope this time the HFDA will take advantage of the six month break till the next fashion week in March, and get rid of their inner problems once and for good. It would be a shame if Greek fashion continues to suffer because of such silly reasons.

If you still feel hungry for FWA scoops, one of the most thoroughly researched reports on this FWA - both on the shows and the organizational drama - was that of fellow blogger and fashion insider Alecca Rox. You can read all her posts on this year's FWA here. Other Greek fashion/style bloggers who covered the event were Shopping Therapy, Fashion Paths, Stylesheet19, Life in Athens and reporting from backstage Queen B and The Soho Symposium.

A big thank you goes out to Alfredo Saltiel, the organizational mastermind behind the Julia Bergovich, Katerina Alexandraki and DElight shows. Without him, we wouldn't have got the chance to experience all this sweet madness that is the backstage of fashion week. And I have the feeling we're gonna start hearing his name a lot more often from now on.

Until next time... or AXDW!

[Alfredo, QueenB, Lopi]

[all catwalk photos in this post by JGK and further edited by me]

12 comments:

Mairyliscious said...

agapw thn aspromaurh auth photo ! magikh !

Alfredo Saltiel said...

Timi mou, despoinis pou m'exipsonete. Sas eyxaristw poly

Sugahspank! said...

AXDW!!!!! no time to take a breath!! I'll see ya there!
I didn't know dagritzikos was THAT famous!

Alecca Rox said...

this is a very cool post dear lopi! you grouped everything so nicely, it is almost as if it was a whole different fashion week:) thx for all the linking too.

*to my knowledge, the hfda has not internal problems for the last 2 seasons. have you got any latest insight to this? plz let me know.

Anonymous said...

mmmm mou fainetai 8a dw poly kosmo shmera
;)

Lopi said...

@Mairyliscious It was ALL magic, dear!

@Alfredo The honour is mine.

@Sugahspank! You'll be attending shows at the AXDW? See you there then!

@Alecca Rox I have to stress that I don't have any additional info on the inside of HFDA, other than my personal observation that this FWA, as well as the last one in March, have visibly suffered (absences of major designers, minimal promo, etc) and it seems somewhat naive to me to blame just the producing company. In my personal opinion, the HFDA has lots of room for organizational improvement. Other than that, I did hear some rumors about a change of venue...

Alecca Rox said...

hey again! thanks for taking the time to reply. Nobody is blaming the production company. It's just that the HFDA doesn't want to work with it, as they said in the press release, their financial and quality demands were not met. This doesn't mean they have organisational problems. I am a fashion journalist by profession, which doesn't mean I know it all, but from time to time I have interviewed both sides and I know that there have been collaboration problems between the two for quite a long time and the HFDA has been in search for a new partner without any luck so far. Neither side is perfect, but organisational problems were not the case, don't judge the book by the cover;)

Lopi said...

Your observation "there have been collaboration problems between the two for quite a long time and the HFDA has been in search for a new partner without any luck so far" is actually exactly my point.

You're right, it's neither party's fault that they weren't able to meet each others requirements.

I'm just observing that it's taking a tad bit too long for the HFDA to find a new producing partner and I can't see why that is. I mean, if they weren't happy with them last March, then fair enough, but why didn't they find another one in these six months till October? The only explanation would be that there are NO OTHER production companies suited to take over FWA in Greece, and that doesn't strike me as realistic. Other guesses?

Lopi said...

Oh, and by no means I'm trying to play fashion journalist here. I hope everyone who reads this blog already knows that. I have real respect for actual journalists who know what they're doing and who are reporting actual news. Here, it's all personal remarks and observations.

Alecca Rox said...

It's good that you question certain things. However, if you are interested in getting to the bottom of things, you should do research, not observation. I did mine and after going down a long LONG road I am satisfied that I have a better picture. I am nobody's spokesperson though, so if you want to know more you have to dig!

leinti d said...

geia sou Lopi,

tha ithela na xero px ti alla observation ekanes regarding trends or mood at athens fashion week. that would be also interesting to us who weren;t there.

Lopi said...

@leinti

Hey girl! Όπως αναφέρω στο ποστ, το μόνο show που παρακολούθησα ήταν το Next Generation. Την γνώμη μου για τα ρούχα την σχημάτισα κυρίως από τις φωτογραφίες που βρήκα σε άλλα blogs και σε πρακτορεία, και με βάση αυτές έκανα αυτή την μικρή περίληψη που είδες από πάνω, η οποία βασίζεται κατά κύριο λόγο στο προσωπικό μου γούστο. Δεν νομίζω ότι είμαι το καταλληλότερο άτομο για να ενημερώσει αντικειμενικά για τις τάσεις...

Ίσως κατά την άνοιξη, όταν θα έχουμε μια πιο καλή εικόνα των τάσεων για άνοιξη/καλοκαίρι 2010, θα κάνω ένα ποστ με αυτές που μου αρέσουν.