One-of-a-kind Salon Presentation
On 17 January 2023, we held the first official presentation of the new pieces from our beloved One-of-a-kind collection. The presentation, which was a firework of exclusive vintage fabrics and marvelous prints, took place at the Regent Hotel for an exclusive group of guests from the fields of fashion, design and art.
Rianna Kounou, head designer for the brand, again drew inspiration from her Greek heritage and created a Mistikos Kipos, Greek for ‘Secret Garden,’ full of color and worldly styles joined together in a shared, imagined garden.
The defilé, a reference to the classic salon couture presentations of the mid 1900s, started at 1 pm with the sounds of Greek singer Georgios Christodoulou accompanied by Vasiliki Mazaraki and Alfrent Routsis, who were flown in to underline the ambience with their bossanova tones celebrating bygone times.
Models slowly entered the venerable Langhans Salon of the Regent Hotel one by one, each dressed in a beautiful display of the vibrancy and quality for which the brand has come to be known. Huge hats, pieces of art and details of craftsmanship combined with voluminous looks and layered, opulent styles. Maximalism was celebrated with a paradise-inspired, feminine couture charm, rounded out with hand-woven and painted baskets in each model’s arms full of dreamy flower arrangements.
As with all of RIANNA + NINA’s One-of-a-kind looks, pieces for this collection were composed by hand in the label’s Berlin atelier from vintage fabrics acquired on global treasure hunts, making for an international and eclectic display.
In the brand’s first look, RIANNA + NINA present a blouse made from vintage Silk Organza, detailed with Silk Richelieu Lace sourced from France. A hand-embroidered Romanian apron from the early 20th Century was reinterpreted as a skirt, combined with Silk Jacquard from the 1960s and 70s collected in the Greek town of Soufli. The statement piece took the form of a straw hat, handmade in Greece according to family tradition and decorated with antique cut-outs of Chinese embroidery from the 19th century depicting a 3D garden installation of trees, butterflies, birds and flowers. The look was accompanied by a handwoven basket lined with archive and ikat fabrics hand-painted embellished with crystals by Swarovski®, articulated by a handle made from two vintage silk scarves.
The second look presented more of RIANNA + NINA’s signature styles — Palazzo Pants created from two vintage Japanese Tomesode Kimonos featuring beautiful metal thread embroidery from the 1940s; a Plastron Blouse composed of two high-end French vintage silk scarves and decorated with a mid-century Japanese obi belt plastron, and an Uzbek crepe georgette back panel. The look was completed with a handmade straw hat lined with fringes created from acrylic beads.
A third look offered a bold, colorful style: a coat composed in silk satin red, white and black stripe print, lined with silk shantung from the brand’s archive and detailed in Bulgarian multicolor vintage wool flokati from the 1960s. Paired with this look was a boxy blouse also made from Silk Shantung and a matching skirt also featuring the wool flokati details. The look was also accompanied by a handwoven basket composed in a similar manner to the previous look, though bearing different, beautiful colors.
RIANNA + NINA would like to thank the Senat Department for Economy, Energy and Public Enterprises, as well as the Fashion Council Germany for their great support, Marsano Blumen, for the wonderful flower bouquets and Italian luxury brand Aquazzura for their shoes.
