A few days before the show, hands move across fabric in her Parisian atelier. Seamstresses finish the last stitches; every detail made by hand. Two young embroiderers from Lesage are here to complete a particular piece. From seating plans to jewellery to model boards, each team works with quiet focus, the atmosphere studious yet soft, almost familial. For her, this is what craft has always meant: knowledge passed down, generation to generation. “My grandfather was working in retail and fabric imports. He had a boutique in Piraeus,” she explains, referring to Greece's largest harbour, where he sold “everything for women: fabrics, jewellery, makeup. Then his business grew, adding childrenswear, then womenswear.” The family travelled to Paris regularly. “At the time, they were coming to Paris to visit the ateliers, to buy fabrics, samples, embroideries. And my mother was a client. I had the chance to visit Lesage and Lemarié ateliers, to see shows by Saint Laurent, Jean-Louis Scherrer, Nina Ricci. I remember people with tears in their eyes as the garments were so beautiful.” She then began to understand that world was hers.
Between the late 1970s and early ’80s, haute couture faced a crisis. Luxury ready-to-wear won over a clientele previously loyal to couture, whilst rising costs and economic recession closed ateliers across Paris and Europe. In Greece, couture ateliers were closing one after the other. The oldest one, founded in 1906, was called Tsouchlos. “My mother explained to my father how important it was to preserve the craftsmanship, for the legacy. My father, with his boutique developing, decided to buy the atelier.” When the time came, she took its artistic direction. At first, she kept the original name, Tsouchlos. “My journey has nothing to do with my name. Time flies and the only way to stop time is creativity. When you create, when you build something, you have the archive. I can go past the years and see what I made, where time went.” Eventually, the atelier became Celia Kritharioti. She presented her work in Greece, then further abroad. Since 2017, she has been presenting in Paris and this season, she has entered the Official Calendar of Haute Couture Week.
“If you are showing in Paris, you must respect the tradition, the legacy and the craftsmanship of Haute Couture.”
The theme of the collection she is about to present is “Old Hollywood,” going back to the very roots of glamour. In her showroom, the team offers up references from “The Ziegfeld Follies,” a series of lavish Broadway revues produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. between 1907-31 in New York. There were ultra-luxurious stage spectacles of enormous sets, feathers, sequins, chorus lines, and an exaltation of feminine beauty. “It is about going back to a moment where women were starting to fully express themselves. There was a new way of expressing sexy and elegant, of showing the personality of real women,” they explain. Looking at the pieces in her showroom, one can confirm immediately that this designer aims to empower women. Different women, for different parts of the world, different daily lives. But always daring. “It is not just about doing a nice dress. That is why they call me “the plastic surgeon” in Greece. If you have a narrow waist, I'll show it. What you do not have here, I will put for you. What you do not have there, I will create.”
“I have passed my exams, with amazing women who can have garments from anyone but choose me. I have the best clients in the world. I have never paid anyone to wear a dress.”
International recognition began organically in 2014. A friend of hers working for American television suggested she send dresses ahead of the Golden Globes. “I sent a few pieces to her but I did not know what would happen. Then I realised that the two hosts on the red carpet were wearing them! Two hours with celebrities asking what they were wearing, saying the name!” The momentum snowballed. Pop stars and cultural tastemakers followed: Kim Kardashian. Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé. And from Hollywood red carpets to coronations: in October 2021, she dressed Queen Anne-Marie of Greece for the wedding of Prince Philippos at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. In May 2023, Queen Anne-Marie wore her custom creation for the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey. Then, in September 2024, she designed the wedding dress for Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, alongside her mother's gown for the ceremony. Three bespoke pieces for one day. “It is so difficult for a woman to decide the dress she is going to wear for her wedding. I have to make them their absolute best version.”
Reuben Attia
