Laura Lowena and Emma Chopova like doing things outside of the box.
The duo behind their eponymous fashion label Chopova Lowena has made quite a name for themselves over the past few years, dressing some of the biggest stars of our time in their colorful, folkloric skirts inspired by their shared Bulgaria heritage.
They haven’t staged a fashion show yet.
When the brand was nominated for the 2020 edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers, the pair told WWD they were more interested in presenting the brand with alternative forms of presentation.
Lowena admitted that they couldn’t afford to do a show at that time.
Chopova Lowena, unlike many of the brand’s fellow London designers who launched their careers with the help of talent support schemes like Fashion East and Newgen, was overlooked from the start.
Those platforms support brands. Chopova said it wasn’t their experience. It is good for younger people to know that there are many different ways to do it. When we didn’t get those platforms, we were hard on ourselves, but we persevered and found our own way.
One year after graduating from Central Saint Martins, they received a 30-piece order from Matches fashion, which saved them from winding up the brand.
Chopova said that the brand is selling to more than 60 stockists worldwide, and its output has tripled in the last year.
Family members of the industry stepped in and provided much-needed professional advice on business management.
Lowena said that they were fortunate because their parents had retired. Both of them were able to help us with all of the things that we don’t know how to do.
It is hard to comprehend when you are thrown into numbers and cash flows after seven years of learning fashion design. It’s difficult to trust people with that kind of thing when you’re young because not everyone has your best interests at heart. Family does as well.
With a stabilizing financial situation, the brand is set to make its runway debut and present its spring 2023 collection on Friday at 8 p.m., which is four days earlier than originally planned. The British Fashion Council said that all shows on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral had to be changed.
Chopova said she was grateful that the venue was kind enough to not charge them extra for moving dates because of the PR work done by them.
The new collection is called, “Rose is a rose is a rose,” and it is a quote from a poem.
Lowena explained that the festival was about celebrating the rose and the beauty of it. There is a rose queen from the town. The pink and the straightforward kind of references are what it is about.
It was illegal during the Communist era to own jeans, so the traditional references of Bulgaria’s traditional folklore and other things that come from my side, like the denim, are inspired by how hard it was for my parents to own jeans.
Chopova said that there would be a sporty side to the collection.
The lacrosse players were mic’d up by us. It is going to be very loud. There are many references to sportswear and uniforms. Chopova, who was born in Bulgaria and lived in New Jersey as a child, said they have knitted tinsel lacrosse jerseys and lacrosse stick bags.
The new collection will show a lot more than the brand’s signature skirts. They found out from engaging with their online community that Chopova Lowena is speaking to a much wider range of people, age and gender than it had anticipated.
The only two people in the class who lived in South London at the time were the founders and they became close friends.
Both of us lived in Brockley. We traveled in the same direction. We used to go home from King’s Cross at night on the train.
We discovered that we work well together. It was too one-directional for us to produce collections we were happy with. It wasn’t really interesting on its own. Chopova said that they knew how to balance things out when they came together.
They applied for a master’s degree together.
Chopova remembers going for a chat with the course director of MA Fashion at Central St Martins.
He wanted to know if we really thought about it. Is this like we want to make clothes together? He asked if the future of the business would look like, and if you would get a degree together. Do you think you will be okay with that? We think about it. This is what we would like to do. She said that they got an acceptance letter after leaving.
The founder and editor in chief of 1 Granary, who has known the Chopova and Lowena for almost a decade, said she is happy to see the duo grow into brilliant businesswomen.
They put in a lot of time and effort to perfect their products. They have been working with the same people since day one. When everyone around them didn’t believe they could make a business out of a distinct product and aesthetic, they had the confidence and intelligence to build a healthy company. This is their first show and it shows a lot about who Chopova Lowena are.