Designing for women of dreams
With assistants roaming the busy fashion salon taking care of clients’ fittings, and mothers with their daughters checking out press photos of recent collections, Loukia, clad in black and with her signature fiery red hair, seems unfazed. «I destroy lace,» she says quietly. Already in the middle of her regular 10-hour-in-the-atelier day, her hands are full. «I never leave a fabric alone; I always give it a hard time, as I believe that it can always offer something new,» says the designer who revels in working directly on a mannequin. «It’s only fair that after working with fabrics for so long, however, you end by taming them; it is a conversation with the fabrics, where one party will win over the other. The moment you find out what the fabric is capable of doing and that matches what you want it to do, I can assure you that it is a joyful one.» And so these days, for her upcoming summer collection, the designer is working with linen, for instance, whose mainly morning quality is given an evening spin with touches of lace. This being a deluxe ready-to-wear collection, the designer is also developing a theme of skirts or even djellabahs, based on a series of applique patterns of lace and a pastel color palette, without discarding patchworks, again featuring various layers of lace; if these are familiar themes for the designer who is known for her romantic take on a female silhouette, this season she is enriching her rich fabric repertoire of silks and shantung with the addition of resistant sailcloth. «I design for women I dream of, for women I would like to be but am not,» says the designer, who confesses that she almost never wears any of her evening creations. «I have never imagined myself in my clothes, I think of other people.» Born in Samos, Loukia studied interior architectural design, but was soon carried away by the theater and eventually became a costume designer. The designer points to various memorable theatrical collaborations, such as the time she worked with the late Melina Mercouri, star in Tennessee Williams’s «Sweet Bird of Youth.» Another leading actress, collaborator and friend is Katia Dandoulaki, who is currently on stage in Harold Pinter’s «Betrayal;» the cast at the Katia Dandoulaki Theater is in full Loukia attire. «It is simply beautiful to see garments that you designed being worn by women and taking on a life of their own,» says the designer. «At the same time, however, a designer would like to see his or her garments worn exactly as he or she imagined them, but that is not feasible in everyday life, and that is why I choose to work in the theater. The theater guarantees that you will see them in a preset space, where they will offer their maximum aesthetic value. In fashion, on the other hand, you know the woman, the client who is wearing your clothes, but you don’t know where she will take them.» Yet Loukia does appreciate fashion for what it is, an applied art with a daily role to play, and that is why since 1975, the year she established her salon on Kolonaki’s Kanari Street, she has concentrated on developing her collections and a loyal clientele; Today, the «sur mesure» salon is complemented by a boutique on Tsakaloff, where the Loukia tis Imeras (Loukia for Day) label suggests less intricate pieces, such as straightforward suits and separates. As fashion emerges from various periods of minimalism and deconstruction, Loukia’s style portrays a timeless quality, whose softness seems very much of the moment. Yet for those who view the designer’s career as a long series of romantic, lacy frocks, the designer offers a down-to-earth approach: «I go through many difficulties daily, but I manage to always find some time for myself, to go to the cinema, for instance; you always have to be able to enjoy something,» she says. This approach to life is also reflected in her clothes. This combination of the delicate with the strong might also explain why the designer’s garments are increasingly popular with the younger generation, some of whom might be looking for a vintage look. «You might be surprised with the fact that many of our clients are young women,» says the designer. «They are looking for something different; they don’t want to look like everybody else. I thoroughly enjoy watching a young woman throwing one my elaborate tops together with a pair of jeans. I find that that kind of styling is far more exciting than the one we do here, when we present our collections.» Above all, the designer is considered one of the last remaining soldiers of a local haute couture Greek tradition. «I don’t believe there is such a thing as haute couture in Greece today, and I hope that my colleagues will allow me to say so. Haute couture means making one, unique garment and then proceeding to destroy the pattern. That does not exist here,» she says. «But you do sometimes get one client who wants something unique, for instance, a woman who might be overweight. What usually happens is that we produce a collection from which we work individually with our clients.» In developing her collections, Loukia is currently collaborating with accessories designer and sculptor Maria Mastori, who creates accessories and jewelry for both catwalk presentations and clients. Meanwhile, the designer is also looking abroad: A number of garments are traveling to London for possible display in a few boutiques there; a previous collaboration with Harrods came to an unfortunate end 20 years ago, after she was unable to execute a large order from the legendary department store. How does this woman, whose heart is always in the theater, balance between mundane daily life and the magic of the stage? «When I began in the salon I didn’t have any measure of control, everything was too theatrical. Slowly, I grew into the milieu while demonstrating considerable willpower,» she says. «What pleases me today is when somebody instantly recognizes one of my designs, when worn by a client. That is a tremendous satisfaction. Having an identity is every designer’s hidden desire.»
