WITH a change of location from stately Zappeio Hall to the former gasworks of Technopolis, the eighth Athens Collections fashion week rebooted and burst forth on October 7 with a younger, edgier look.

Speaking before the dance performance that kicked off six days of catwalk shows featuring designs for spring/summer 2009, Hellenic Fashion Designers' Association (HFDA) president Daphne Valente noted that the organisers had taken advantage of the location change to rejuvenate and augment the event, introducing it as a festival of fashion and art.

The participating designers give the new fashion week a thumbs-up. "I like the idea of it being a festival, and I like the younger, more alternative crowd at this venue," Angelos Bratis tells this newspaper. Fellow designer Filep Motwary agrees: "I'm very happy with the changes. It's much more open, more experimental, and it attracts more people to get involved in fashion and the society surrounding it."

The designers also hope that the change of sponsor, from Diners and InStyle magazine to Vodafone, will result in more coverage from those rival publications that were previously boycotting the event. "It's extremely important for us that we can now have the support of all the press," says jeweller Maria Mastori.

Designer Yannos Xenis opts for an ethereal look

The repowered fashion week features an eclectic array of guest designers. French doyen Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who undertook the artistic transformation of Technopolis for the fashion week, will show his spring/summer collection to the accompaniment of Belgian electro-pop group Coco & Curry on October 11. Antwerp-based Demna Gvasalia and Korean street-tailoring guru Juun J take their designs to the Technopolis stage on October 10, while neon-bright rapper favourite Cassette Playa will electrify the crowds on October 11. The final day, October 12, features shows by Belgian deconstruction team AF Vandervost, Spanish high-street leader Custo Barcelona and Greek-Austrian designer Marios Schwab, who has taken the London fashion crowd by storm with his curvaceous creations.

But although there are plenty of guests on the schedule, the homegrown talent is thin on the ground, with only 19 of nearly forty HFDA members taking part in this event.

It's showtime for Vassilis Zoulias

According to Ioanna Panaretou, communications director of Athens Fashion Productions, "some of the designers aren't showing on the catwalk but have brought their collections to the showroom [at Technopolis]; some designers aren't showing at all, for a variety of reasons, including the proximity of Athens Collections to Paris Fashion Week this time."

Bringing the event forward to early October, instead of its usual slot at the end of the month, has made it difficult for designers like Erifilli Nikolopoulou and Christos Costarellos, whose collections are just returning from showrooms in Paris, to exhibit.

Pre-eminent design duo Deux Hommes, exhibiting in Milan, are also among the absentees. "After Paris Fashion Week draws to a close, many buyers return to Milan," explains Grigoris Triantafyllou, one-half of Deux Hommes. "We knew we had some important buyers coming there and didn't want to miss them."

Angelos Bratis, like jeweller Dimitris Dassios, whisked his collection back from Paris in order to keep the date in Athens. "Unlike in Paris, the press and buyers have time to talk to you here and actually look at your collection," says Bratis. "I have met so many people and made so many contacts in Athens that have really helped me not only to get a reputation in Athens, but to make steps into the international market."

Some 60 invited buyers, press and fashion VIPs are attending this season's Athens Collections, says Panaretou, selected through the event's new Paris press office, Totem.

A retro-style creation by Zoulias

Some of the Greek designers have simply decided to take a break. "It's extremely hard work hand-knitting an entire catwalk collection," says knitwear designer Smaragdi, who has a streamlined selection of her works on display at the Technopolis showroom. Fellow knitter Vaso Consola, meanwhile, has decided to focus solely on her autumn/winter collections from now on rather than her elegant, yet somewhat impractical (for the white-hot Greek summer), wool dresses and all-in-one swimwear.

Although entry to the fashion shows is by invitation only, in keeping with its new role as an "art fashion festival", Athens Collections features an array of off-catwalk events and activities. Browsers can wander the designer showrooms to admire the spring/summer collections up close, while budget shoppers will be thrilled with the Technopolis boutique, where past seasons' creations by HFDA members are sold at knock-down prices.

Not your typical sandals - by Yannos Xenis

A compilation of films with a fashion theme selected by designer Filep Motwary will be projected onto giant outdoor screens around Technopolis, while workshops for budding fashionistas will be led by designers Dimitris Alexakis of Deux Hommes, Chara Lebessi, Vaso Consola and Daphne Valente, in collaboration with architects, directors and fashion photographers. The results of the workshops will be exhibited at the closing ceremony of the fashion week on October 12.

The schedule also features concerts, clothing exhibitions, artwork and photographs, and a skateboard fashion show/dance performance choreographed by Konstantinos Rigos.

"The opening party attracted more than 3,000 visitors, many of them youngsters," says Panaretou, "and we are looking forward to thousands of visitors over the next days of events. The shows at Zappeio offered us so much, but now that cycle is over and we are starting afresh with a new, improved Athens Collections."

Source : Athens News