AT CHOPOVA Lowena, the supernatural has never felt separate from the everyday. For Spring/ Summer 2027, Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena-Irons invite witches, nymphs and Slavic spirits into their club, but this season they have handed them bowling shoes, boxer shorts and an appetite for trouble.
Presented at Bloomsbury Lanes, the collection finds its characters in Eastern European folklore: Baba Yaga, Rusalka, Kikimora, Morana and the Samodivi. Their silhouettes appear in long, flowing capes, pointed shapes, generous hoods and the enveloping proportions of something half-human, half-myth. Black bodices, tiers of lace and unruly beadwork give the collection its dark romanticism, while faux fur and the house’s deadstock fabrics turn materials into protective, beastly forms.
Then comes Marion Ladewig, the 1950s American bowling champion, whose stomp and swagger provide the sporty counterpoint. Her uniform (bowling shirts, striped jerseys, boxer shorts and trousers) is given the Chopova Lowena makeover with tartans, fur and the house’s carabiner skirts. It is an unlikely marriage, but that is precisely the point: folklore meets league night. Game on!
What makes it work is that the designers never allow the fantasy to become costume. There is always something underneath: a polo, a boxer, a tartan skirt, a pair of boots. The supernatural is simply another way of dressing.
Chopova Lowena has always understood that a woman can be many things at once. SS27 makes that multiplicity feel alive: witch and athlete, romantic and brute, haunted and ready to strike. And, naturally, two dogs came along for the ride. Woof.
by Imogen Clark