Yahoo Finance Design Theory: How George Trochopoulos’ Stripe Motif Became a Go-to Celebrity Style
Despite minimal prior design experience and just a few years of fashion school under his belt, George Trochopoulos has become a go-to designer for some of today’s biggest stars.
The 20-year-old London-based designer didn’t initially intend on a career as a fashion designer, having first thought about law or software engineering. It was when he was looking for a safe space and a community that he ended up pursuing fashion design.
More from WWD
“I was always very creative and very playful, whether that stems from my queerness or that’s something else, I’m not sure,” he explained. “[Fashion designer] was never seen by me or anyone in my life as a job position, but basically I started doing that and playing around. It was the only way in which I saw myself succeeding in a space that I could be myself. It was the only thing that felt right and a step toward the right place. It was never really about the clothes themselves or my fascination with dresses, but it was more about the fact that at the time I really needed a community and the support, which was only given by fashion.”
Trochopoulos attends the London College of Fashion where he is in the knitwear program. He entered the program with minimal design experience, having only taken up sewing in his last few years of high school.
After starting his first internship and getting his footing, he started sharing his designs on social media. The designer’s signature style is his stripe motif in dresses and tops, which he hand-knits, sews and dyes on his own. He offered the pieces via custom order last fall and slowly started building his following on social media.
“It’s a lot of mixed and matched influences in my head kind of put in clothes,” Trochopoulos said about his inspirations. “I’ve very obsessed with repeating patterns and seeing how those can be manipulated. So for example, the stripe: it’s something I stumbled upon five or six months ago and I’m still trying to make new ways of doing it.”
Trochopoulos’ stripe motif caught the eye of fashion stylist Jared Ellner, who reached out to the designer to commission a green striped top for his client, YouTube star Emma Chamberlain.
The designer explained that photos of Chamberlain in his top went viral while he was in a remote town in Greece without WiFi or cell service. When he was finally able to use his phone again, he saw that he had an influx of social media followers and inquiries for custom pieces. He quickly put together his own website and started making custom orders soon after.
After Chamberlain, a steady stream of celebrities have worn Trochopoulos’ stripe styles. Kendall Jenner was spotted in a custom knit top this summer and Miley Cyrus commissioned a black striped knit dress. A photo of Cyrus in the dress is featured on a T-shirt the singer is selling as part of her merchandise collection.
Most recently his dresses were worn by model Deba and artist Darkwah Kyei-Darkwah at the British Fashion Awards this week.
“I think no matter the style, color, size or texture, I’m very interested in making clothes that make people feel sexy,” Trochopoulos said about his designs. “Especially as a queer person who grew up in a non-queer space in a small town in Greece, it took me a very long time to feel sexy until, let’s say, this year. Sexiness is just something very important to me because it’s so correlated to freedom and euphoria, especially gender euphoria.”
Trochopoulos’ next step is putting together his first complete collection, which he will debut in London in February for the fall 2022 season. The collection will include his signature stripe motif, while also experimenting with pattern cutting, beading and dyeing, as well as accessories and other silhouettes like trousers and coats.
READ MORE HERE:
What’s Next for Sustainable Fashion Designer Mia Vesper
How 12-Year-Old Fashion Designer Ariella Maizner Got Her Designs Into Walmart
How Up Next Designer Is Finding the Next Big Thing in Fashion
Best of WWD
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
