What to Wear on The Athenian Riviera This Summer – the best of AFW35

 

At the 35th Athens Fashion Week, the SS’25 collections of Athens’ most established designers – plus collections from some elegant, intriguing newcomers- were unveiled in style. 

No one designs for a Greek Summer like a Greek fashion designer; whatever your signature style may be, Greek fashions will keep you chic, current, and cool.

Thanks to boundless creativity and inspiration, Greece is one of Europe’s rising fashion capitals. Athens Fashion Week has a lot to do with that. Twice a year, the fashion community and international visitors light up the capital with the coming looks. The autumn show – AFW35 – features mainly the SS ‘25 collections – a glimpse of the best looks for the season ahead. From streetwear to classic elegance, Greek Designers have you covered. Here are some of our favorite looks, perfect for long, loungy days – and glamorous nights – on the Athenian Riviera.

Maison Zoulias SS’25 collection: “A Summer Place”

Vassillis Zoulias is known for capturing the look of Old Athens – the tiny waists and huge skirts of the New Look of the 1950s, the sleek silhouettes and pencil skirts of the ‘60s, and the glamorous, slightly BoHo ‘70s (a recent collection was inspired by Jane Birkin). In one of the most eventful shows of Fashion Week, his new collection was unveiled with a show at the undisputed Queen of locations – the Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel.

To a soundtrack of ‘60’s pop, his new collection was unveiled one gorgeous piece after the other, a parade of florals, bold stripes, juicy solids spanning looks from the most elegant decades of Greece – or anywhere. Oh, and plenty of hats – a necessity for the Athenian Riviera in summer.

Maison Zoulias specializes in keeping “Old Athens” alive – a quote from the designer himself sums it tantalizingly up:

“My memories of my mother have really defined me. I remember her in the 60s, getting together with her impeccably dressed girlfriends for a game of Gin Rummy in the afternoons. I was positively haunted by twinsets, black pencil skirts and pearl necklaces. Their style burned a hole through my head. After 20 years in publishing, I became a fashion designer and it all came pouring out.”

We’re certainly glad it did – Athens is all the more stylish for it.

Scala di Barelier

This absolutely superb menswear was, for us, among the most dazzling collections of fashion week. With a tasteful embrace of color –  muted pistachio, lavender, slate, cream – and exquisite tailoring, the collection was self-confident and elegant.

Details, such as the gently pleated shoulders and the ties that landed somewhere between a contemporary tie and an ascot, carried the mood of an era when men simply dressed with this easy formality all the time. The look suggests a man of substance; they looked like dashing characters who just stepped out of a novel you can’t put down, and yet also entirely modern.

Daphne Valente

Can there be a designer who more closely channels Greece than Ms. Valente? That drapery we so admire in the Caryatids of the Acropolis is seen in her strong signature – beautiful pleating, employed in dresses and separates that are entirely body-conscious and yet entirely proper.

Her pieces really do turn the wearer into a “Living Sculpture” – which is in fact the name of this collection. Many ladies in the audience were wearing her fashions to the show, demonstrating their versatility, they way that any time, anywhere – formal occasions or an evening beachside dinner – they’re always the exactly the right thing to wear. 

You’ll be seeing Daphne Valente’s creations on fashionable women along the Athenian Riviera, but the nature of the designs is that they highlight the unique qualities of each woman who wears them. 

Vasileiades Athanasios

Of the New Designers featured in the AFW35, Vasileiades Athanasios struck just the right note between elegant and avant-garde. His dresses would be ideal for a festive evening event, or even a top beach club. 

 

Chrysanthi Farmaki

With her wonderful Spring/Summer 2025 collection “Exotic Elegance” Chrysanthi Farmaki really delivers on the promise of the title. One gorgeous dress after another had the crowd’s attention, as they realized here on the catwalk was the answer to the perennial dilemma of summer – “What should I wear to the wedding?” On a hot night on the Athenian Riviera, these flowing loose silhouettes will look glamorous and stay cool.

Exuberant florals (the “Exotic” of the collection’s name) on green backgrounds are refreshing to the eye, the picture of the summer gardens of Attica. The generous collection included long gowns and also some marvelous knee-length sleeveless dresses with a flattering a-line, and separates. The looks transcend age – from youthful to sophisticated, everyone will look great in these dresses.

 

Fashioned for the Athenian Riviera

There many excellent designers in the Greek capital are expert at truly distilling the Greek experience through their work – the pleating of Valente, the street-chic of Parthenis, the nostalgic glamor of Zoulias. Wearing Greek fashion adds another facet to the total Athenian Riviera experience.

Photos by Charlene Ioanidis