#PROJECTSEMEDAKI
Collective Fashion Show
Victoria Square Project Athens, Greece 2019 and Yellow Days Festival, Athens School of Fine Arts 2019
#ProjectSemedaki is the result of discovering large quantities of unwanted or unused handmade textiles in Greece. Most are forgotten, thrown away or stored in the back of closets in rural areas, small villages and island communities. Creating semedakia has traditionally been women’s work throughout the country this handmade textile was considered of great value for the dowry of young girls, making it a symbol of the female’s role in Greek society. #projectsemedaki highlights the ingenuity of the semedakia, and pays tribute to the skills, talents and craft techniques passed on for generations while at the same time offers a way for used clothes to be redesigned instead of thrown away.
Greece has one of the lowest material-recycling rates in the EU, at 17%, it is significantly less than the European average of 39%. Much of this is textile waste which could be recycled, but instead is going into illegal landfills. House of reFashion takes on this challenge, with a special DIY point-of- view, encouraging reuse.
All the models presenting the collection, are friends and neighbors who took part in the creative process of designing the clothes they wore. Together clothing waste was revitalized by combining it with semedakia, traditional handicrafts long forgotten and tucked away in Greek wardrobes and decorating grandmothers’ television sets. The show included over 50 new looks constructed from clothing diverted from the landfill and featured other local sustainable designers: jewellery by Joanna Tarkasi and the jewellery team at Scrap Coop, shoes by Nikoletta Dalatsi from Alchimia Vegan Shoes, and bags by Diti Kotecha from Théla, Garyfalia Pitsaki and John Pitsakis from 3QUARTERS.
Photography by John Sachpazis
Art Direction George Kalivis
#projectsemedaki Fashion Show July 23, 2019 at Victoria Square Project
This collective fashion show represents the contributions of many people from our diverse neighborhood community in Victoria Square Athens, Greece:
MODELS in alphabetical order
Aspasia Stavropoulou GREECE
Benedicte Nazombo CONGO
Ching-Yu Cheng TAIWAN
Christina Chronos USA
Curtis Graff USA
Denis Maksimov RUSSIA
Diti Kotecha INDIA
Dimitris Grammaticoyiannis GREECE
Dimitris Metallinos GREECE
Dimitri Yin USA/FRANCE
Dorothea Kritikou and Tesoros GREECE
Elias Karniaris GREECE
Eva Ringhof GERMANY
Francesca della Seta ITALY
Garyfalia Pitsaki GREECE
George Kalivis GREECE
Georgia Zetta Klitsa GREECE
Holly Martin ENGLAND
Inga Bergen GERMANY
Ivan Nikolic CROATIA
Janeyar Magid KURDISTAN
Jeener Magid KURDISTAN
Joulia Strauss RUSSIA
John Pitsakiss. GREECE
Julia Büttner GERMANY
Latifa Kisala CONGO
Teresa Satta ITALY
María Arvanitáki-Karélou GREECE
Marianthi Karadima GREECE
Maria Juliana Byck USA/NETHERLANDS
Maria Kalaridi GREECE
Maria Papadimitriou GREECE
Nik Bran GREECE
Nika Kasper ESTONIA
Nuno Cassola PORTUGAL
Riswan Syad PAKISTAN
Robert Hoffman NETHERLANDS
Sanem Gayrıresmi TURKEY
Sheelan Magid KURDISTAN
Syrine Benaceur FRANCE
Vandad Happyman IRAN
Yi-Ling Hung TAIWAN
Yorgos Siannos GREECE
Zoe Alexandra Holman AUSTRALIA
Xara Euthimiopoulou GREECE
Xhrisoula Skorda GREECE
VIDEOGRAPHER
Nicolas Juge Pampanos
EDITOR
Maria Juliana Byck
ADDITIONAL VIDEO
Nina Alonso
PHOTOGRAPHER
John Sachpazis
ART DIRECTOR
George Kalivis
MAKEUP
Dorothea Kritikou
GRAPHICS and ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Francesca della Seta
PRESS and MEDIA
Dorothea Kritikou
Maria Papadimitriou
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT
Taha Salim
REFASHION DESIGNER and #PROJECTSEMEDAKI CONCEPT and IMPLEMENTATION
Maria Juliana Byck
MANY MANY MANY thanks to all the inspiring rural women who dedicated time and skill to creating semedaki and handcrafted textiles in Greece, developing and passing on techniques for generations. Special thanks to all who donated semedaki. Used clothing generously provided by Khora Freeshop and Pampiraiki.
Cover image by John Sachpazis