Greek tailor – his profession Aristides Tsoneurakis. “A Greek tailor as opposed to a tailor,” she tells us, looking back at the history of clothing in her years. reign of George Iwhen the young Queen Olga decided to teach middle-class Greek women how to dress in Western clothing. Thus, tailors were divided into those who made traditional clothes and those who made European clothes.

But Mr. Tsoneurakis is young, and in his own tailoring workshop “Aristotekhnika”, located in Argos, the work never stops. Over the past few years, he tells us about the successes, the highlight of which is the collaboration with him. House Dior. For the Greek-inspired Dior Cruises 2022 collection (presented at Panathinaikos Stadium in April 2021), he embroidered the house’s signature jacket and iconic Book Tote bags.

“Traditional embroideries are called terzidiki,” he explains and tells us another story, about terzids, those artisans who embroider traditional motifs on costumes; manual art, laborious and by modern standards very expensive, as it requires a lot of work. clock .

His knowledge of his subject stems from his passion, which really breathed life into a profession that seemed to have died out. In fact, listening to his instinct and heart, and also thanks to his acquaintance with Kostas Ghikas – a traditional dancer and head of the wardrobe of the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation – Mr. Tsonourakis came into contact with the current Vassilis Papantoniou Foundation and the great work of stage designer – clothing expert and historian clothes of Ioannas Papantoniou. She supported him professionally, but on the condition that he learn the theory of the wardrobe and understand the philosophy of the Greek traditional costume.

“In 2002, when I entered the profession, I found that the field was in decline,” he tells us. “However, since 2010 and with a focus on the last decade, there has been an increased demand for traditional clothing from municipal dance groups and unions across the country. In addition, the orders we are accepting now have higher requirements and require a very good knowledge of basic men’s and women’s clothing and its geographical origin.”

Now, traditional costumes are being prepared in his workshop for both private individuals and public institutions, as happened with a copy of the dulama (men’s coat) by Pavlos Melas, which was made for the exhibition in the museum of the Macedonian hero in his restored form. home in Kifisia under the auspices of the Ministry of National Defense. He also collaborates with Greek brands such as Zeus+Dione and Ancient Greek Sandals, creating mostly embroidery for their collections. How much does a traditional costume cost? “A simple Samos costume costs from 300 euros, and a dulama, and even more so a janina pirpiri (women’s coat) costs several thousand euros. At the moment I haven’t done anything.”

From Saturday, the Hellenic Tailoring Society is organizing an embroidery workshop with Mr. Tsoneurakis on the topic “Introduction to Terzidi Embroidery”. The spinning workshop Mentis – Antonopoulos of the Benaki Museum produced the necessary spinning materials especially for this workshop.