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Forget Paris, Milan – for European couture, Athens is growing its reputation as a hub for accessible handmade clothes

  • Athens’ star is rising on the high-fashion scene, with major international brands like Dior holding shows in the Greek capital and working with local talent
  • Playing in the city’s favour, rents have stayed comparatively low and there has been an influx of skilled immigrants escaping conflict in the Middle East

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Models in the Dior Cruise show held in Athens, Greece, in June 2021. The Greek capital’s reputation as a couture hub is rising.

Clothes tend to reflect the city in which they are made. This is particularly clear in Athens, where the colourful, extroverted designs of fashion icons such as Mary Katrantzou and Celia Kritharioti exude a sunniness and optimism that can feel difficult to find elsewhere in Europe.

Further east from the continent’s other fashion hubs – on streets where fruit-heavy orange trees dot the pave­ments and a bright sun heats the air even in the depths of January – are hundreds of boutiques run by independent designers intent on putting their city back on the style map.

“Athens is an increasingly interesting multicultural hub and artists from around the world are moving there and changing the momentum of the city,” says Vogue Greece editor-in-chief Thaleia Karafyllidou.

“The light, the energy, the good weather, the history and the culture of this city – along with the warmth of the Greeks – are just a few of the factors that make Athens so compelling.”

A model at the Celia Kritharioti haute couture spring/summer 2023 show in Paris in January. Picture: Getty Images
A model at the Celia Kritharioti haute couture spring/summer 2023 show in Paris in January. Picture: Getty Images

One stand-out brand is Ancient Greek Sandals, which helped create a global trend for beachy footwear that nods to the country’s Hellenic past.

“I always wanted to come home to Athens and make something inspired by the country I grew up in,” says co-founder Christina Martini, who started her career at Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga in Paris.

Melissa Twigg was born in South Africa, brought up in London and educated at the University of Bristol, where she read English, and the University of London Institute in Paris, where she studied French literature. She went on to work for Paris-based publishing house Éditions Gallimard before jumping ship to the world of journalism. Her writing career began at Condé Nast and it took her to Cape Town and then Hong Kong. She returned to London in 2016 where she has worked for a number of national newspapers, and as a freelance journalist. In 2017, she won a SOPA award for an investigation into rhino poaching and her writing today covers fashion, travel and lifestyle. She is – like everyone else in the industry – working on a novel.
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