Sophia Kokosalaki

PARIS, October 2, 2007
By Sarah Mower
Scan Sophia Kokosalaki's show, and you will find—if you're keeping up out there—a collection punctuated with pieces that are spot-on for the Spring agenda. Working backward, first isolate her diaphanous, white tiered crinkle-pleated gown—an Aphrodite apparition that could propel an event-bound nymphet to a moment of quiet glory. Note, too, Kokosalaki's attention to pants. Flared may be the general way to go this season, yet few have come up with a trouser as optically flattering as the sharp, long-leggedy pair she put under her lean, skinny tank. Casting around for a jacket with an emphatic shoulder? Or a loose T-shirt dress? She had those figured out, too.

Still, Kokosalaki isn't a designer who grasps at trends for the sake of it. The rest of the collection was a consistent development of her body of work—a bit urban new wave, with an underlying thread that as always wound back to her Greek roots. Thus, somehow, the signature pleated twists in the sleeves of her jackets and the raised seams in her gazar skirts referenced classical statuary, while the slouchy satin knicker-shorts and the pompom-trimmed shoes carried faint echoes of traditional folk costume. Not that it was any overt homage to her homeland. Kokosalaki is a London city-dweller with an overriding mission to present a cool, alternative elegance that, for the most part, could be worn on the street. For her, this was a softer and more accomplished step in the right direction.