London Fashion Week was expected to pack a punch this season and Chopova Lowena delivered it yesterday evening. The show, which was originally scheduled for Monday 19th, almost didn’t go ahead at all following the sad news of the Queen’s death. After Raf Simons cancelled his show, design duo Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena filled the spot.
Closing out day one with their debut runway, the pair gave us a show bubbling with teenage angst and an energy enough to wake even the sleepiest of attendees at the end of a long first day.
Not only was the show soundtracked by metal music, but also by the metal that clinked together as models stomped their way down the catwalk - and stomped they did. The models, whose looks were tailored specifically for them, marched down the runway with the same vigour as the journalists who leapt from their seats to congratulate the duo post-show.
Y2K is still going strong this season, but Chopova Lowena did it their own way. Whilst other labels reference noughties IT girls with their low-cut jeans and bubblegum palettes, Chopova Lowena are representing the kids who feared those girls in school. The kids who didn’t quite fit in for one reason or another, who kept to themselves and were mad at the world.
Tonight’s show featured the label’s staple tartan prints, chains, exaggerated ruffles and tinsel - though naturally, this wearer hates any kind of festivity. Whilst the IT girls of the 2000s were listening to NSYNC, the teens being referenced by Chopova Lowena had Disturbed blasting through their walkmans.
Though the pace of the models brought an electricity to the production, it meant that the whole thing was over far too quickly: we were left wanting more and we eagerly await whatever’s next for Chopova Lowena.
