Core: MONO
By Jo Phillips
One of the challenges as a new designer is finding an international platform for your creativity. MONO is a new mobile pop up fashion concept which aims to do exactly that for a handpicked selection of Greek designers. MONO meaning ‘unique’ in Greek was founded by Marina Bury Christellou and Myrta Mitropoulou and is the fruit of their quest to take the “bubbling creativity of contemporary Greece” to a wider audience. The spaces will be popping up in different spots around London and each will be curated to be in keeping with the area where the space is based.
The first MONO space, located in Shoreditch at 30A Redchurch Steet, opens on the 19th March 2015. It will feature womenswear, menswear, jewellery and accessories and is characterised by it’s androgynous, minimal and experimental feel and includes some of the most forward thinking designers working in Greece today. Each showcase will run for a period of ten days with new locations opening every 3-4 months.
The brands featured span womenswear, menswear and accessories. Among them; We Are Still Bold & Beautiful are a young clothing label that specialise in urban clothing. Set up by a graphic designer, an architect and an artist, they combine their different specialities to create screen printed designs which take inspiration from internet culture, nature, wild-life and textbooks. Apivita cosmetics combine naturally derived active ingredients, including extracts from Greek nature, beehive products and organic essential oils. Products exclude the use of silicones, paragons, mineral oil and other ingredients that have been associated with adverse health or environmental effects. Menswear and womenswear brand Dido, takes inspiration from art and travel. Texture, clean lines and shape, build a simple monochrome wardrobe for both men and women. Contrast is played with as soft meets rough and tranquility meets nonchalance in a neutral presentation. Jewellery brand Bijoux Bizarres is inspired by their mediterranean heritage and expresses spirit of hope, happiness, boldness and pride in this history. The brains behind the brand are a fashion editor Roula Strataki and Panos Kardasis, who brings heritage research and hands on craft experience to make a product which combines current fashion trend with historical technique.
For more info on MONO and it’s designers head to themonospace.com or better yet to to THE MONO SPACE at 30A Redchurch Street, E2 7DP.
