Introduction to Chopova Lowena
Chopova visited the High School in the States and Lowena Irons in Great Britain, which led to a mishmash of references. The show contains coded football shoulders on the shoulders and hips. Pom Pom bags, cheerleading tutu skirts, route to locate and fluffy hoodies and pockets in mascot style, of course in numerous contrast prints.
Background and Growth
I last interviewed Chopova Lowena in September 2022 before her first show in London Fashion Week. At that time, the brand had only exceeded 1 million pounds and 70 fagors. Since then, the brand has won the 2024 fashion/BFC Designer Fashion Fund (£ 150,000) that uses the capital to expand its direct-to-consumer business (DTC) and develop several new categories, from bags and shoes to perfume.
Increased Recognition
"Since we started at London Fashion Week, more people have known about the brand," says Lowena-Irons. "You can create so much excitement with a show. It helped us in all aspects to press from the community."
A Technical Challenge that has Paid Off
Like today’s show, it is a feast for the eyes to enter the eyes in Chopova Lowena. I walk through a modern café and a sterile corridor before I am catapulted into a cornucopia made of checks and tutus, belt and stimulus, offset pockets and occupied shoes. When we speak, the stage for the show is already quite fixed. Clear plastic bags are hung on every look, filled with (sometimes several) belts, heavy charm neck chains or a Chopova Lowa X Chilly Water bottle, the latest collaboration of the brand that is to be unveiled during the show.
The Design Process
"It was a hard collection, but in the end it was good for good reason," says Chopova. With the high school topic, the duo made clothes for her raves, cheerleaders and even her high school bullies, created mixed feelings and wrote past trauma again, she says. The collection was also technically more difficult. They used completely new materials such as chainmail (crocheted on a hoodie, jersey shorts and a dress with impressive hustle and bustle) or a lot, many, many items of clothing that were stacked on top of each other to produce layers of clothing or T-shirts. "Four or five months before the start of the collection was the first thing I did, like 50 types of disguises," says Chopova.
