AXDW day 4 - Romina Karamanea

Romina Karamanea is a London based Greek designer. She has shown her collections for four seasons during London Fashion Week, yet this was her first show in Athens. In the past, Karamanea's work has been praised by remarkable names like the late Izabella Blow of British Vogue, Franca Sozanni of Italian Vogue and Cameron Silver, the shopkeeper of L.A.'s A-list vintage boutique Decades.

Her a/w 10 collection is black-dominated, with leather as the basis of rounded, futuristic tailored cuts and experimental details. Check her out:
(photos above, by my fashion photography sponsor Patricia Munster)

And your front row view:

AXDW day 2 - Best Catwalk & Best Trendsetter Awards

The two other new designer awards, Best Catwalk & Best Trendsetter , both went to Εvelina Litina. Apart from physical memorabilia, all awards also correspond to: participation in an international fashion show for Βest Designer, free participation at the next ΑXDW for Best Catwalk and involvement in the next beauty contest for Star Hellas 2010 for Best Trendsetter.

Litina's collection in terms of design and complexity of patterns is more than the work of a "new designer". All the more challenging, the fact that she did both womenswear and menswear. The only typical young-designer-ish choice, is that of "scary/zombie" make-up, which somehow seems to be a fav amongst newcomers.

Best of luck for her future steps, and yes, I'd happily slip into that grey dress, anytime.

(all photos in this post are by Patricia Munster)

AXDW day 2 - Best Designer Award

Dimitris Paraskevopoulos and his collection 'PARADI' is this AXDW's winner of the 'Best Designer' award. This award along with two others (to be presented in following post) are each season given to new designers, supporting their first steps in the field.

The winners are decided be a committee, this year comprising of: designer Vrettos Vrettakos, designer Vassilis Zoulias, Tsantilis' head byer Evina Papanikolaou, the prsident of Cyprus Designers Association Dora Schabel, the president of Μοda Lisboa Εduarda Abbordanza, the fashion director of Votre Beaute magazine Nikola Georgiou and Dimitris Serifis, the Group Manager Personal Care of Unilever Hellas.

Congrats to the winner, here are some pretty memorable backs by him:
(all photos in this post are by Patricia Munster)

AXDW day 4 - Angelos Frentzos

Glimpses of Milan resident, Greek designer Angelos Frentzos' collection, themed 'Disordered Clouds'. It was the closing show, and much awaited by the Athenean fashion crowd. The choice of the imposing stairs of the conference centre as a catwalk area along with directed, minimal lights, made it all the more atmospheric and spectacular for those attending, however it looks like photographers were in for a challenge. You can tell the rock spirit and skillful craftmanship were there. I'll get back to this name and collection soon.
(all photos in this post are by Patricia Munster)

AXDW day 1 - Ioannis Guia

Ok, this is a tough one.
Not because it was not a great show, it was and I am a big fan of Guia's skills and concept applications. This time though he chose a theme which is a bit challenging for the Greek audience: priests attire. Before you scroll down to see what it looked like, let me go for an intro or it won't make sense.

Guia, is a Greek born, France based designer. He shows his collections is Paris Fashion Week as well as that of Milan. I have not been following him too closely, but I was very impressed from his previous AXDW show, where I realised that he uses his Greek heritage as a source of inspiration. And by that, I do not mean the cliché ancient pleats and drapes.

With the Orthodox Easter approaching, he chose to show wearable versions of priest gowns, in a show complete with a soundtrack of hymns mixed with dub house. To get the feeling of what it was like, watch the clip below (or listen to it rather, as the picture is not that great). For the full effect let it go on but if you are not a hymn kind of person, jump to minute 01:15.

AXDW Ioannis Guia, a/w 2010 from Alecca Rox on Vimeo.

I presume that the fake peroxide blonde wigs are there to make a contrast between sin and sacred, which added to the audience's surprise that lead to some whispering of disaproval/questioning. I guess this was not the case when the show took place abroad and had I been there, as an expat, this would make me more nostalgic and proud than troubled.

Any theme-related reservations aside, this was yet another great application of inspiration into a very well constructed and tailoring-strong collection. It's all a question of thinking outside the box and whether one is willing to take it on what they wear.

Final thought , the Greek saying "it's not the gown that makes a priest".

(all photos in this post are by Patricia Munster)

AXDW day 3 - Celebrity Skin (show)

Show-time! The lights are out and after a short projection/preview of Celebrity Skin's a/w 10 official shoot (shown to you exlusively here first) we see what it's all about. And that's texture. That, and imposing details on delicate fabrics. This show marks a year after the duo's first appearance under this signature and they are still going strong in their mission to bring fantasy to what we wear. I think they are doing a wonderful job:
Wonna watch it all from the front row? You know it by know, I've got a clip for you:


(all photos in this post are by Patricia Munster)

AXDW day 3 - Celebrity Skin (backstage)

So here we are backstage at Celebrity Skin, moments before the show. Everybody is ready, seems to know well what they are doing and are having tons of backstage fun, shooting pictures and of course taking care of the final touches. Patricia Munster was there too which means that plently of professional photos of what went on will soon be on her website (http://www.patricia-styleandimage.gr/). Enough said, scroll down and hit play! For Celebrity Skin, it's almost show-time...

Celebrity Skin - show coming up

Celebrity Skin show has now finished and what for a communication sponsor would I be had I not loaded my camera with plenty of backstage and front row coverage to share with you! Give me a minute (or two) to sort it out and whilst I'm doing this, you can follow what's up at AXDW though Lopi's excellent tweets.

Celebrity Skin's show in 2 hours

(above: Dimitris Petrou, Katerina Kontogiorgou, Eleni Mparla, Evangelos Kavathas)*
This is the moment this blog has been waiting for! In about two hours it's show-time o'clock for Celebrity Skin's collection 'Desireless Humanoid'.

I am between charging cameras, looking for my shoe (got one, one to go) and making calls to be sure dear winners' invites are at the reception (they are). And whilst madness is taking over my headquarters, chez Celebrity Skin's they are all set and relaxed enough to be cracking jokes and slipping me tips of what's to follow!

Dimitris Strepkos has just revealed that:
-Katerina Kontogiorgou will be doing the make-up, InBerlin Tzako are in charge of the hair.
-make-up will be nude and natural (it's gonna be 'desireless humanoids' on the catwalk you see)
-it's going to be his partner in crime, Eleni Mparla, wearing the closing piece whilst taking the bow by his side!

Excited. Leaving for AXDW venue in one hour and you should too. Magic invite holders or not, you can always watch the catwalk action at the projection above the bar;)

*Have said it before, isn't it nice to see designers hanging out together?

AXDW day 1 - Stelios Koudounaris

Koudounaris show was next up after 'Two in A Gondola' and since I was already backstage, I made a quick pass by the make-up room. Amongst other things, models' fingers were being painted black resulting in a finger-glove illusion. Snap!

And as captured by Patricia Munster:
Yet for another season, Koudounaris show was of high design standards. His coats and overall shoulder play have me clicking this clip on repeat.