Yannis Tseklenis (b. 1937) was a leading Greek textile and fashion designer from 1965 to 1991, when he retired from the fashion world. He was the first Greek designer to open permanent showrooms in London and New York and was the largest fashion exporter from Greece; he is credited with bringing Greek designs to the contemporary international fashion world.
From a young age he worked in his family’s retail couture textile business. In 1965 he became its owner and started printing his own textile designs. His first collection (1965) was a collaboration with the Greek fashion designer Dimis Kritsas. Tseklenis’s fabric designs garnered particular acclaim and thereafter he undertook the garment design as well. The collection was shown in New York under the aegis of the Greek National Tourism Organisation; Tseklenis says that he has always believed that modern Greek fashion inspired by ancient Greek art and tradition could be a means for promoting Greek culture internationally.
Tseklenis produced only pret-a-porter collections, based on his conviction that design ought to be available to all. Initially he licensed his fabrics to a number of high-profile international firms, including Elizabeth Arden Couture of New York (1965), Berketex UK (1968) and Frank Usher UK (1970) but in 1974 he withdrew all previous licensing and became the sole manufacturer and retailer of his own designs. In the 1970s he opened a series of boutiques in Greece, Beirut, Kuwait and Riyad, and was the first Greek designer to open permanent showrooms in London, New York and Osaka (1973). He also developed various commercial lines under his name, including home furnishings, household objects and perfumes. In this he was one of Greece’s pioneers of brand diversification that characterised the late 1980s and 1990s.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Tseklenis’s practice was the way in which he took inspiration from local, national and world cultures, often using historic objects as the basis for his textile designs.
The design here is from his ‘Vase Look’ collection of 1969/70 and is based on images from ancient red and black attic vases (C6th-C4th BCE). He was known for these thematic collections, of which he produced approximately fifty, ranging from themes inspired by specific moments in Greek history, to world cultures and individual artists.