How Chopova Lowena’s Collaborative New Collection Came Together

During the bewildering period of lockdown, London-based design duo Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena began thinking about community and how they could feel connected to others from home. Calling on a host of gifted young creatives from across the city, the designers invited “makers, artists and artisans” they admire – from jewellery designer Georgia Kemball to artist Faye Wei Wei – to contribute to their joyful Spring/Summer 2021 outing, which is inspired by traditional Romanian dress and roller derby. The resulting collection is one of bright, off-beat beauty, which marries the eclectic creative fruits of these artists with Chopova Lowena’s idiosyncratic style – bold prints, pleats, and fabrics sourced from Chopova’s native Bulgaria – together presenting a loving celebration of the designers’ collaborative world. “Fashion has the power to create groups where you really feel like you belong and you are part of something with like minded people,” the designers tell AnOther over email. “That’s one of the things that drew us together.” 

The duo have extended this community spirit to a new film project, which, offering a rare insight into the making of a collection, captures their coterie of S/S21 collaborators at home. Among them, Kemball and Wei Wei, in addition to Ami Evelyn Hughes, Rhea Dillon and Jewel Yang, who also all starred in the brand’s ad-hoc iPhone-shot look book – presented as part of digital London Fashion Week, and styled by AnOther’s senior fashion editor-at-large Agata Belcen – alongside friends of the brand and their interns. “We found it important to collaborate with artists and makers who would be involved in making products, but also some who wouldn’t,” the designers explain. “All of these artistic processes are sacred and personal, and we wanted to show how much goes into making everything, how luxurious and authentic everything behind the scenes is.”

The home videos invite you into the private creative worlds of these young artists, in turn revealing immense detail which went into making the collection. In them, we see Kemball craft charms inspired by British and Bulgarian relics; Hughes collage Bulgarian postcards (for fabric prints), and Faye Wei Wei hypnotically swirl marbled prints inspired by her romantic paintings, which were later recreated by artisans in Turkey. The latest two instalments in the series, premiered here on AnOthermag.com, star artists Rhea Dillon and Jewel Yang, in which the former recites a beautiful poem from her studio – dressed in full Chopova regalia – and the latter executes an avant-garde make-up look. “Jewel, we followed on Instagram and just loved the make-up looks which she creates, the precision and colour and design of them is so alluring,” the designers say. “Rhea went to Saint Martins around the same time we did and we have always really loved her videos … Her words are powerful while the video is such a captivating look into her space and where she creates art, a glimpse into her mind.”

While the series is a celebration of Chopova Lowena’s creative community, it is equally a love letter to craft, something which is at the heart of each piece produced by the two designers. “We have a real desire to showcase all of the process it takes to create something special or well designed,” the duo explains. “The most rewarding, and what we are most proud of, is that we have created an amazing community of people in the production of skirts,” they continue. “Everything from the sourcing which involves dealing with people all over the country ... to then pleating which is done by hand, but finally, and most importantly, our factory run by a very strong and amazing woman.” This season, their unique, painstakingly crafted pieces felt more dear to the designers than ever. “At a time like this, people really are craving something special and something which brings a bit of escapism and storytelling to their wardrobe.”

Watch the two new films below and the full series here.