Kiko Kostadinov

Kiko Kostadinov is a Bulgarian-born British fashion designer, born in 1989 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He is most known for his innovative darts, specific colourways and futuristic designs.

Early Life

1990s

Kiko Kostadinov was born in the small Bulgarian town of Plovdiv, his given name being Kiril Kostadinov. The only child of a father that worked in construction and mother who worked as a cleaner, Kiko moved with his family to south London as a 16 year old. He credits his uncle for sparking his interest in fashion by sending him clothes back in Bulgaria from abroad.

2000s

After studying IT at a local college and realising he did not want to work in an office, he enrolled in a foundation year at London College of Fashion, which he felt did not suit him. After assisting a friend enrolled at Central Saint Martins, he decided to pursue a similar course and enrolled in a BA in Fashion Design and Marketing. During these years he also assisted Nicola Formichetti, Aitor Throup, and Stephen Mann. For Stephen Mann, he reworked Stussy t-shirts by cutting and reassembling them for a photo shoot. He had also assisted Michael Kopelman by working on a capsule collection that funded his master studies.

Knowing he wanted to study menswear, he attempted to transfer during his BA courses to the main Menswear course, but was turned down. In the end, he enrolled in the MA Menswear course at Central Saint Martins.

Career

2010s

In 2016, Kiko Kostadinov launched his eponymous brand, shortly after graduating. He was the first menswear student to be awarded British Fashion Council NewGen Men support. In the same year, November, he was asked to head up the Mackintosh 0001 line of the brand Mackintosh.

In 2018, he started to collaborate with Asics on the highly successful Novalis line. The collection has since included reinterpreted silhouettes, sometimes of archive styles, unexpected colourways. Kiko also redesigned the sole itself, which was branded Gel-Kiril, after his first name.

The same year he starts showing womenswear collections as part of his brand, which are designed by the sisters Deanna and Laura Fanning.

Style

Techniques

Kiko's style is defined by experimentation and technical details - his designs can be recognised by unique details such as complex darts, stitching and shapes. He has a taste for modern and futuristic garments that explore new and unexpected colourways and reinterpreted knitwear.

Themes

He generally avoids referencing subcultures or the past, finding it difficult to connect to somewthing from the past. In an interview with FHCM Paris, he talked about how he recently references motifs of his home country of Bulgaria more in his designs. Although initially intending to stray from reinterpreting his country's dress, thinking that it's too common for fashion students to do so, by going back for the garment production, he found himself recalling moments from his childhood that would make their way into his research process.

Collections

The Collections section should include a wikitable in the style below. If a person has not contributed to collections, editors may forgo the inclusion of a Collections section. If a person has designed or worked for more than one brand, additional wikitables should be created and arranged vertically from earliest to latest. Columns for Notes may include notable information such as the collection number.

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