Klelia Andrali “Freakshow”: Athens Exclusive Designers Week
Athens Fashion Week may not be the hippest fashion event just yet. Nevertheless, I really enjoy such events because I get to know young designers that no one has come across yet. It feels like I am trying to spot the treasure, the undiscovered, or unpolished gem. Klelia Andrali is one of those unpolished gems. Klelia is a Greek, UK-based fashion designer with expertise in digital print. She managed to bring her fresh ideas, passion for graphics, colours and shapes to the Athenian catwalk.
Klelia Andrali “Freakshow”: Athens Exclusive Designers Week
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The Brighton-based designer’s show was a joyful moment, although ironically her S/S2018 collection is inspired by 1800s freak-shows. What I like the most about Klelia, is that she knows about the history of fashion, and that shows in her clothes.
“During the Victorian period, freak- hows were so popular, that travel guides marked them as a ‘must-see,'” she says. “I am drawn to their aesthetic, and that is why I chose them to be my reference for this collection. What is very interesting about freak shows is that at that time, the theatre management made loads of money due to the presentation of human oddities (image diversity) like the Siamese Twins, the Four-Legged Girl, the Human Skeleton, and so on. In 2018, the ‘freaks’ are not the same, but still exist. I admit that I have a more idealistic approach to them because mine are happy and colourful, but this is how I picture them in my head.”
Of course, she would have pictured them as bold, colourful creatures. I cannot imagine her brand without beautifully made, bold graphics. So I ask her about what the Klelia Andrali brand would have been without the digital prints. “The brand is focused on the digital printing and the history of prints and art in general. Without those elements, Klelia Andrali would be incomplete.”
In every country, we’ve seen a really great response to diversity on the catwalks, and Klelia responded, too. She is a young designer, not interested in polished perfection. Her colourful show suggests diversity is a thing that mattered once, and still matters now, only in a very different way indeed.
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With love,
FWO
