Jewelled tights: Chopova Lowena and London's embellishment moment

In London this September, almost everything sparkled. Sequins and silver leaves on McQueen's gowns, crystals on Erdem's mesh dresses, ornate crystals on Simone Rocha's sheer dresses, Celia Birtwell's smiley faces rendered in sequins at Burberry. Then, in a Bloomsbury bowling alley strewn with gnarled branches and talismans, Chopova Lowena made the most interesting move for anyone who loves hosiery: it put the embellishment on jersey and tights. For once, the sparkle did not require a dinner invitation.

The art of adornment, dressed down

It was Coveteur, in Ella O'Keeffe's round-up of London's SS27 trends, that gathered these names under a single banner, "The Art of Adornment". At McQueen, in Seán McGirr's first London season for the house, gowns came embellished with sequins and silver leaves; at Erdem, crystals adorned mesh dresses, satin knickers and skirts; at Burberry, Daniel Lee's collaboration with Celia Birtwell turned her famous happy faces into sequins on jumpers and pumps; at Simone Rocha, ornate crystals covered sheer dresses. And then Chopova Lowena, which in Coveteur's words took "a more casual approach" by "blinging out jersey mini dresses and tights".

The difference is one of substance. An embroidered evening gown stays tied to an occasion; a jersey mini dress, the everyday fabric par excellence, worn with embellished tights changes the very meaning of decoration. Sparkle stops being a party signal and becomes something you might wear at nine in the morning with a pair of boots.

Look closely and the whole week was pushing decoration towards less ceremonial clothes. Erdem put crystals on satin knickers; Burberry covered jumpers in sequins: underwear and knitwear, the most intimate and the most everyday parts of a wardrobe. Chopova Lowena simply took one step further, down to the leg. That is where embellishment stops being a special effect and becomes a way of getting dressed.

Witches, bowling and a 1950s champion

The show, the label's only catwalk presentation of the year, took place at Bloomsbury Lanes. As Claudia Croft wrote in 10 Magazine, the starting point was female figures from Slavic folklore, witches such as Baba Yaga and Poland's Morana. The designers told Dazed they had been "looking at characters from Slavic culture who were there to enforce rules pre-religion", usually sinister ones. Alongside them came a sporting heroine: Marion Ladewig, the 1950s bowling champion who routinely beat the men.

On the runway were puff-sleeve blouses and beaded bodices worn over the label's signature carabiner-pleated skirts. Some pieces were patchworked from lace, tartan, faux fur and gingham and worn with what reviewers called "chintzy tights", all cabbage-rose kitsch. There were boxy bowling shirts, boxer shorts and striped leggings, a Dr. Martens collaboration ("We have genuinely worn Dr. Martens all of our lives," the designers told Dazed), bags, more menswear and even dog outfits: the designers' chihuahua, Nikita, walked in a neon green puffer. "Monster Mash" was on the soundtrack.

In this context, tights are not a neutral accessory: they are another surface on which the collection tells its story, just like the lace and the tartan. Nor was it the only way the label worked the leg this season: according to Marie Claire Nigeria's trend report, Chopova Lowena was also among the designers showing shorts over tights.

Who are Chopova Lowena?

Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena met on the first day of their BAs at Central Saint Martins and went on to do a joint MA together, as i-D reported in 2023: only the second ever to do so at the school. The label was founded in 2017. Chopova moved from Bulgaria to suburban New Jersey aged seven, and it is Bulgarian folklore that gave the brand its calling card: the pleated skirt hung from a belt of climbing carabiners, originally made from upcycled tartan tablecloths and vintage Bulgarian wall hangings. When Matchesfashion's buying director ordered 30, i-D recalls, they sold out within a day. In 2020 the duo were finalists for the LVMH Prize, which describes their work as a meeting of folkloric references and sportswear, using recycled and deadstock fabrics.

This September the label opened its first shop, the Chopova Lowena Clubhouse at 84 Teesdale Street in East London: Polish pine wardrobes, Bulgarian tapestries and a skirt bar where you can customise your own carabiner kilt. "We wanted it to be a space where you could hang out with your friends, try on clothes, have fun," Emma Chopova told AnOther, the same sense of fashion as play that runs through the collection. And legwear already has its place. On the brand's web shop, among flocked mesh leggings and argyle tights, sit beaded jersey leggings. The jewelled tights of SS27 are not a seasonal whim but the continuation of a conversation.

Sparkly hosiery: a long story

Embellished legwear is nothing new. As early as 1966, the V&A notes, Mary Quant was selling "Highball" glitter stockings in silver, gold, green, blue and red, in the same years her coloured tights were changing how women dressed their legs. Since then, diamanté, crystals and lurex have mostly stayed an evening affair. What London's SS27 changes is not the technique but the context: decoration moves from cocktail dress to jersey, from exception to habit.

How to wear jewelled tights

A few rules to keep it from looking like fancy dress:

• Everyday base. A jersey mini dress, an oversized sweatshirt, a denim skirt: the plainer the rest, the more the tights read as a choice rather than a costume.
• Measured sparkle. By day, scattered points of light or small appliqués at the ankle beat a pair covered from waist to toe.
• The right denier. On sheers, embellishment seems to float on the skin, the more polished effect; on black opaques it turns graphic, perfect with boots.
• Flat, sturdy shoes. Lace-up boots, loafers or ballet flats tone down the shine and keep the runway mood (where, fittingly, the shoes were Dr. Martens).
• Mind the friction. Cross-body bags with buckles, coats with Velcro and carabiner belts are the natural enemies of embellished tights: appliqués snag easily.
• Check how the sparkle is attached before you buy. Turn the pair inside out: stones glued or heat-set onto the knit, beads stitched through it and lurex knitted into the yarn behave very differently. Knitted-in shine is the most robust; glued stones are the most likely to shed. And look at where the decoration sits: at the ankle and shin it survives far better than on the thigh, where legs rub together.
• Size up if in doubt. Embellishment adds weight and reduces stretch in the areas it covers, so a pair that is snug everywhere else will pull hardest exactly where the appliqués are.
• Treat them like jewellery. Hand wash in cold water, never wring, dry flat.

Everyday sparkle

What Chopova Lowena has pulled off is a small revolution of scale: it takes the season's most lavish language, the same one spoken at McQueen and Erdem, and carries it into a real wardrobe without losing the humour of a collection that brings together witches, bowling and a chihuahua in a puffer. For hosiery lovers the message is simple: next spring, legs can sparkle at nine in the morning. Just don't take them too seriously.