There’s a beautiful chaos to the clothes that Chopova Lowena create. They’re vibrant, eclectic and folksy. Their sportswear-inspired garments are doused in femininity that pen a fabled tale of a riotous girlhood. It’s like contemporary slam poetry for the loverboys and the riot grrrls.

Founded in 2017 by Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena, both 32, who met while studying for their BA degrees at Central Saint Martins in 2011, sustainability is central to their practice. They often use recycled fabrics and deadstock textiles – such as pillowcases and vintage aprons – but their ethics don’t stop there. Working with skilled female artisans in Bulgaria, they ensure craft and the preservation of traditional techniques are imperative parts of the joyful world they’re building. “Our love of craft and traditional dress was something that really bonded us,” the pair explain. “By the time we applied for our MA, it was clear we had to do it as a duo.”

Having won the 2024 British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund – which grants the design duo a cash prize of £150,000 and pro-bono business mentoring – their capacity to cultivate a community of craftspeople is only set to grow. As is their ability to produce the rebellious collections that have garnered them a dedicated fanbase. “It has granted us the opportunity to start exploring new avenues and categories to a whole new level,” they say, adding, “We are currently working on perfumes and a few more very special projects.”

Taking an anthropological approach to design, the pair create nuanced connections between disparate worlds to find the foundations for their collections. They’re inspired by everything from ice hockey and 1980s rock climbing to the Cornish spring festival Helston Flora Day and Chopova’s Bulgarian heritage. With character-driven casting by Sarah Small, what the design pair bring to life is a well-rounded product that combines their vast interests.

The label’s debut collection was shown in September 2022, unleashing a torrent of punk playfulness upon London Fashion Week. Many of those in attendance, including me, said it was their favourite show of the week. But that sentiment comes as no surprise. Their cult hit, pleated and pinned carabiner kilts – inspired by traditional Bulgarian dress – already had the fash pack in a chokehold (and were worn en masse by the show’s audience), but this outing was explosive. Inspired by Bulgaria’s Rose Valley, where every summer the young women of the village of Kazanlak dress up in delicate pink, red, yellow and white tartan and floral dresses to select their Rose Queen, the offering served as a symbol of the strangeness of pageantry and local traditions. So with a heavy-metal whimsy, 35 models came stomping down the runway in black aprons that unbuckled from plaid skirts with safety pins and chains, second-skin long-sleeved tops with kitschy hand-drawn cartoon graphics and decorated denim looks. Satin skirts and swollen gowns came stamped with sanguine roses and were followed by deadstock lace prairie-style wedding dresses. In many ways, it felt like an antidote to Y2K, one which channelled ’70s and ’90s subcultures instead.

Only showing once a year, with the rest of their collections releasing via lookbook, their sophomore showcase kicked off at West London’s BaySixty6 skate park. This one unveiled bags and shoes for the first time. From an Ugg collab to huge over-the-shoulder bags, their take on accessories was enough to draw in any curious customer.

Their teenage infatuation with skater boys was one of that season’s starting points. It was palpable in the brand’s burgeoning menswear, which saw lanky lads in signature Chopova Lowena kilts and slouchy tracksuits.

In preparation for Lowena’s introduction to motherhood – the designer recently gave birth to twins – the pair moved to a new studio in Deptford, South London, that looks over a sailing club and boat launch. Down the road from their previous abode but with a little extra legroom, the new space, like much of what’s immediately around them, began to inform their work. While the pair sew and cut, sailors outside rig their boats and float out onto the Thames.

Seeing the port as both a sacred site of mundanity and a daily ritual, they took this as the point of departure for their AW24 ready-to-wear lookbook, which sowed a crimson thread through the unlikely influences of sailing and wartime weddings. “We’ve both been obsessed with 1940s military wear for a while now and have been waiting for the right moment to bring it in.” The duo delivered mid-century-style midi dresses with crocheted panels that resemble mariners’ nets and breezy seersucker shirts with sailor collars. Carabiner skirts were rendered in the same textured material and bedecked with oversized heart charms latticed with marine rope. There were also screen-printed graphics of a sea fairy drawn from a vintage mainsail design that flutters from jumpers to jeans, embellishing clothes with a lovelorn, haunting beauty.

Kitschy but cool, subversive but classic, Chopova Lowena is a game-changer.‍

chopovalowena.com

Photographer CLARK FRANKLYN
Fashion Editor GARTH ALLDAY SPENCER
Text EMILY PHILLIPS
Models WENLI ZHAO at Next Models, HAVANA OLIVER-MIGHTEN at Established Models, BELLE VANDERKLEY at Premier Models
Hair TOMI ROPPONGI at Julian Watson Agency using Bed Head by TIGI
Make-up SUNAO TAKAHASHI at Saint Luke using DIOR Foundation and Capture Totale Le Sérum
Manicurist SASHA GODDARD at Saint Luke Artists using CHANEL Le Vernis in Ballerina and Incendiaire and CHANEL La Crème Main
Photographer’s assistants STEFAN EBELEWICZ and MARIJA VAINILAVICIUTE
Fashion assistants GEORGIA EDWARDS, SONYA MAZURYK, DONNA CHOI and HAMZA KHAN
Hair assistant ERIKA KIMURA
Make-up assistant FRANCESCA LEACH
Casting ISA ROSE CONROY
Production ZAC APOSTOLOU