Local designer takes on London
Fashion designer, Sofia Alexandrou, is on the brink of huge success, but obstacles remain in the way
A fashion designer’s studio reflects their traits and personalities just like a home does for everybody else. However, Sofia Alexandrou’s small studio situated in central Nicosia, mirror’s only a portion of this incredibly talented designer’s qualities.
Walking in, it’s apparent that this is an extension of a creative person but nothing, not even the stacks of Vogue magazines, the unique designs hanging from every corner or the leather studded sketchbooks, would indicate that this is the second home of the only Cypriot based fashion designer to be accepted to London Fashion Week…ever!
For those of you who are not aware of the importance of such an achievement, here’s a clear explanation. It’s like the Oscars for actors, the Pulitzers for writers or the Nobel for academics. To be accepted into Fashion Week is one of the greatest dreams come true for any young fashion designer.
“I was told by a friend of mine who is Cypriot but based in the UK that I shouldn’t expect to be accepted on the first attempt because it’s almost impossible. Out of 300 applicants, only one or two are accepted, and she’s very good. It took a number of times for her to get in, however, so I wasn’t expecting much,” says Sofia.
While the designer was pregnant with her second child, she filled in her application form, picked out six pieces from her most recent collection and sent them off. “I was planning on going to London to showcase my stuff, but I broke my leg one day prior to my trip, so that was that.”
Apparently, however, that old saying “break a leg” really does mean good luck, because two weeks later, after a board of the world’s most respected fashion editors, designers and stylists examined her collection, she got her congratulatory phone call and offered a spot in last month’s show.
With the birth of her child imminent, Sofia had to postpone her appearance until this September when London Fashion Week is on again. Despite the delay, doors have opened for Sofia.
“From then on, things started happening,” she says, changing out of one of her designs she wore for our photo shoot. “I got a call from ELLE magazine in the UK asking for one of my jackets. They wanted it for a photo shoot. I can’t even begin to explain what that meant to me.”
Perhaps what topped the London Fashion Week acceptance was a request to be featured on Fashion TV. “It was part of a fashion show/competition with Divinity Model Agency of London and I was asked to participate,” she says.
The show was aired in January and featured Sofia’s new collection, a mixture of sophistication, originality, natural fabrics and non-fashion materials such as copper, shredded leather and zippers. The rarity of Sofia’s designs is also the reason why she has been invited to participate in the Cannes/Monte Carlo Festival in May, again in collaboration with Fashion TV.
Sofia’s life sounds every inch the glamorous life led by a top fashion designer. “Glamorous!” she exclaims, laughing. “I’d say anything but.” Sofia isn’t ungrateful. She’s merely one of many talented fashion designers who do not have the finances to support them through those first crucial, stressful steps.
Add the fact that she is a working mother, and you have a woman who is torn between the opportunity to realise her dreams and the difficulty of doing so.
“I’m well aware that fashion isn’t taken seriously especially in a country like Cyprus but more importantly, it’s misunderstood in more than one way,” she says. “In Cyprus, the magazines and high society gracing these publications are all about how rich you are and who your spouse is. They have no idea what cultivates a designer and neither do the readers who believe all that is written.”
Although Sofia explains that the government has helped in a way, by offering a certain amount that will help cover the five to seven thousand euros rent for a display unit during the show in London, the rest, including materials, tailor’s charge, travel and accommodation, is left up to her. “I feel as though I have my life’s dream within reach but can’t quite fulfil it due to financial issues. It’s frustrating but I’ll get a loan and hopefully be able to pay it back,” she says.
Sofia, who is currently in the throes of designing with one hand and nursing with the other, believes she is blessed, especially after working for years as a made-to-measure designer and a teacher of fashion history at Frederick University in Nicosia. “I am caught up in a rare situation where everything I have ever wanted is happening at the wrong time. I could either choose to become a woman more involved with her work or her children, and I choose both,” she says.
Besides, one of the world’s most recognised fashion designers, John Galliano, went bankrupt twice before becoming the man who made boho-meets-hobo chic a never-ending trend.
