Greek fashion designer
Yiannis Evangelides (Greek: Γιάννης Ευαγγελίδης) was a Greek fashion designer.
Evangelides was born in Cyprus and moved to Athens when he was 18.[citation needed] He married Vasso Kourtidi.[citation needed] Evangelides originally intended to become a pianist, but after designing dresses for his wife which she had made up by her dressmaker, he decided to go into fashion design.[1] Before World War II broke out in 1939, Evangelides was a couturier in Athens for 20 years.[1][2] Among his clients was the future Queen of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, who Evangelides described in 1958 as his easiest, least demanding client.[3] Frederica patronised Evangelides between 1938 and 1945.[4]
His first New York show was held in January 1940, showing pleated gowns in blue and terracotta, with short decorative jackets and draped scarves directly referencing Greek folk costume.[5] In 1951 Evangelides had returned to New York, where he planned to stay and establish himself as a designer, not just of couture, but of ready-to-wear for the wholesale market.[1] Alongside his twenty years' experience in high-end fashion design, he had also worked for five years as a designer for a wholesaler in Capetown, California.[1] In 1954 Evangelides became a designer for the custom salon at Bonwit Teller, where his dresses, presented alongside imported Paris gowns, were noted for their use of tucks and pleats.[2] In 1958, Evangelides owned a dress shop on East 57th Street, titled "Yanni".[4] He offered his first ready-to-wear collection in 1958.[6]
References
- Further reading
- Dimitris D, Lyberopoulos Greek Models 1900-2000, A Century of Creation, Athens 1999
