As comes with the territory of London Fashion Week — known as a hotbed of upcoming design talent — the best shows tend to happen off-schedule.
This was the case for a compact crowd who gathered, mainly by word of mouth or direct invites from the designer himself, to see the catwalk debut by Greek-born and London-based George Trochopoulos.
In a grand room within the Institute of Contemporay Arts, representatives from leading fashion publications took their seats. “He messaged himself, so I thought I would come and support,” said one member of a Condé Nast title. “But he hardly needs me!”
In fact, the 20-year old student, still studying at London College of Fashion, had attracted a stellar crowd. The likes of Jourdan Dunn and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Tayce took to the front row wearing his dresses, while Schiaparelli and Fendi-trained model Maxim Magnus stormed the runway.
George’s super-Instagrammable stripped knit dresses began to boom online in May last year, propelling him blindly into an e-commerce business, and managing an ever-growing list of custom orders. Now, after a whirlwind ascension, he counts Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus and Kendall Jenner as fans. And, with London Fashion Week came an opportunity to take his output from digital to physical, in hopes of making a spectacle.
“For the past two months, and since I started launching this collection, I finally found my footing,” George says. Overnight success, for all its benefits, has been stressful. “I didn’t know how to handle it. I am very grateful that I got the opportunity that not many people can have, but there’s just so many things that I didn’t know I had to learn about through falling on my face.”
His original striped dresses, which picked up traction when they were posted by Instagram talent spotter @upnextdesigner, began as small sample discarded during his first year at University.
“Two weeks after I made it, a model came by my place, found the fabric and said ‘oh I love this – let’s try it on’. We pinned it, and it just looked really fab,” he says. “It became this kind of sensation, everyone started talking about it and in the next three months I sat down and started making more and more samples, finding ways to make it more durable but not lose the personality.”
Tension built as massive demand was met by limited output. “I’ve made pretty much every strap dress that’s ever been sold. Ninety-five per cent of them,” he says. Everything is produced in the living room of his Notting Hill rental. “It was hard to find the dichotomy between; I want to be taken seriously, I want to be a business and I am a business. But at the same time – I’m not.”
For his first collection, however, threads finally came together. “None of the pieces are made in the proper technical way that is 100 per cent approved. I’ve just found other ways to make things – whether that’s knitwear, tailoring or sewing. I just found ways to make it look how I wanted it to,” he says.
Asymmetrical, skin tight and sheer striped knitted dresses filed out onto the runway, to cheers. Halter neck tops came with micro, metallic purple skirts while black trousers were emblazoned with the first ‘GT’ golden logo. More unexpected was a warped, tailored camel overcoat, and distressed knit tops embellished with beads in earthy shades – a departure from the polished neon pink and green styles you may have seen online.
There are no specific inspirations for the 16-look collection; titled ‘Prologue’, George meant it to be a general introduction to himself as a brand. Though his Greek heritage and upbringing in the Northern town of Veria played an important role. “It just happened that throughout the time of making this collection I was watching hundreds of films and interviews of Greek women from the twentieth century. The looks are very much sexy, ethereal, and Greek – I guess!”
Placing his past into a creative context has been therapeutic. “When I first moved out here, if I’m being honest, I didn’t want to be in Greece. I really hated Greece at the time,” George says. “It is quite a rough place for non Cis-Het people. Whether it was when I was younger, or in my teens, it was quite a hard place to grow up in. Because at the end of the day, although we like to think that the world has evolved, I think Greece is still quite far behind.”
He moved to London at 17, started interning, and today is ready to rebuild the connection with his birthplace. “I thought it was not the place for me, but since I’ve been here it’s been really important to reclaim the relationship with Greece which I loved. A lot of family around all of the time, all of the imagery I saw – I think it was really good.”
For now though, the British capital remains home. “The London I experienced made me feel free, and did make me feel like there were things out there, and doors that could open for me if I work hard,” he says. Powering on has been the focus of his past three years in the UK, and that direction is unwavering.
“I want to make things that are bigger than ever before, and more exciting than ever before,” George says, with optimism. “I want to find all my boundaries and push them to the furthest they can go.”
