Chopova Lowena's carabiner skirt was written off by early buyers, and it became the label's best selling piece: Bulgarian aprons, hand pleating
Chopova Lowena is on the London Fashion Week schedule for spring summer 2027. Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena-Irons met as students at Central Saint Martins and graduated in 2017 with pleated skirts hung off climbing carabiners, and that skirt is still the piece the label is built on.
The folkloric versions use wool aprons and tapestries sourced from villages across Bulgaria, seamed together and hand pleated onto belts cut from overstock leather. Each one ships with spare carabiners and four notches on the belt to move them along. Chopova grew up in Bulgaria until she was seven, her mother Iolanta finds the textiles, and the label runs its own factory there.
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01THE EARLY SALES FEEDBACK ON THE CHOPOVA LOWENA CARABINER SKIRT WAS THAT IT WOULD NOT SELL.
02IT BECAME THE LABEL'S BEST SELLING PIECE, AND IT HAS BEEN THERE SINCE THE 2017 GRADUATE COLLECTION AT CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS.
03THE FOLKLORIC ONES ARE BUILT FROM BULGARIAN APRONS AND TAPESTRIES, FOUND VILLAGE BY VILLAGE, WOVEN BY WOMEN THERE OVER THE PAST HUNDRED YEARS.
04EMMA CHOPOVA GREW UP IN BULGARIA UNTIL SHE WAS SEVEN. HER MOTHER IOLANTA IS THE ONE WHO SOURCES THE TEXTILES.
05THE PANELS ARE SEAMED, THEN PLEATED BY HAND, THEN HUNG OFF A BELT CUT FROM OVERSTOCK LEATHER.
06THE HARDWARE IS CLIMBING HARDWARE, LIFTED FROM EIGHTIES ROCK CLIMBERS AND BOLTED ONTO A FOLK SILHOUETTE.
07EVERY PIECE IS MADE IN THE LABEL'S OWN FACTORY IN BULGARIA, BY SEAMSTRESSES ON STEADY WORK.