{"id":3096,"date":"2020-04-13T15:09:07","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T13:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=3096"},"modified":"2025-10-23T14:57:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T12:57:18","slug":"machine-as-stavros-karelis-talks-to-lara-johnson-wheeler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/3096\/machine-as-stavros-karelis-talks-to-lara-johnson-wheeler\/","title":{"rendered":"MACHINE-A’s Stavros Karelis talks to Lara Johnson-Wheeler"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buying director and founder of MACHINE-A, Stavros Karelis, curates a collection of clothes in his store that is as unique to his eye as it is to the city it situates. originally from Crete, stavros is a firm fixture in London\u2019s fashion scene and his influence on it is supportive and stirring. <\/span><\/p>\n

The store, based on Brewer street, is dedicated to showcasing his selections from international luxury brands and up-and-coming British designers, as well as a handful of graduates. Fitting, therefore, that stavros is also a judge for nEWGEn, the British Fashion Council\u2019s emerging talent scheme. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 2014, in collaboration with SHOWstudio, the store began selling online. stavros takes umbrage with the terms \u201ccurator\u201d and \u201cmentor\u201d, although they are terms that have become easily applicable to him and seem intrinsic to his role. despite having known and worked together for a number of years, when stavros and I met for a drink near the MACHINE-A store, we stumbled upon subject after subject we\u2019d never touched upon, from the personal to the professional and back again. <\/span><\/p>\n

LARA JOHNSON-WHEELER: When I see a garment in the store, I can see so much of you in it. At what point do you think that happened? <\/span><\/p>\n

STAVROS KARELIS: I think that happened super gradually. Even when I opened MACHINE-A, I was working in a very holistic way, going naturally to pick up something that I like. And still in the first few seasons I had my insecurities. And I think it was when other people within the industry started paying attention to MACHINE-A, that gave me confidence. My direction is not necessarily informative or plan-based buying, but just picking up the things that I like. It is instinct. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: And when did you start collaborating with nick Knight and SHOWstudio? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: It was with Anna [Trevelyan]. And this is a very big part of it, that store\u2014I have formed relationships that stay with me every day and are super important to me. But meeting nick, it was that period when Nicola [Formichetti] had started working with Lady Gaga. And Gaga was in the massive period where she was becoming the most famous and she\u2019s coming into the store and all of a sudden MACHINE-A becomes this hotspot where someone like Gaga is shopping. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: Your face is changing when you\u2019re talking about this time\u2014what do you feel when you think about that period? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: A lot of confusion. It wasn\u2019t very clear in my head and it was a tough period, to be honest with you. I haven\u2019t processed completely what I was getting involved in and the challenges. I didn\u2019t realise a lot of things. But I remember that I made the decision with Anna to open MACHINE-A in Brewer street, that was probably one of the most exciting times of my life\u2014and one of the most difficult, because of the stress and the pressure that was happening. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: How often do you look back and reflect on the periods of stress that you\u2019ve had and deal with them? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: I don\u2019t like to look back. It\u2019s not because I don\u2019t care about the past. I\u2019m able to think about successes or good moments of my past but I don\u2019t think a lot about difficult moments in my past. I\u2019m thinking about that period of time in my life and you know, if you don\u2019t think like that, you can do it. Maybe it\u2019s going to be super stressful or challenging but you can do it because you\u2019ve been through much more difficult periods of time. I know it\u2019s kind of clich\u00e9 to say but it\u2019s true\u2014whatever doesn\u2019t kill you makes you stronger. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: To what do you attribute MACHINE-A\u2019s unique aesthetic? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: I\u2019ll tell you. It has a lot to do with Raf [Simons]. People say, \u201coh you\u2019re obsessed with him\u201d, but I\u2019ll tell you why I\u2019m obsessed with him! When I first opened MACHINE-A in Brewer street, I said, \u201cOK, let\u2019s do this seriously and let\u2019s buy brands.\u201d My niche in the market is emerging talent, but we have these really big brands which I\u2019m really loving. When I first went to Raf Simons to buy the brand, I sat down with this amazing woman\u2014she was the CEO of Simons\u2019 brand and very, very close to Raf. I explained to her what MACHINE-A was going to be about because this was six months before the store was going to open. We had to buy product, but I didn\u2019t have anything to show for it. I explained to her that it was going to be a shop where we\u2019re not going to separate men\u2019s and women\u2019s, we\u2019re going to mix high-end brands with emerging designers. And she wasn\u2019t afraid of what I said, I saw the excitement in her face. she turned to me and said, can you show me what you would buy if you pick up Raf Simons? <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: What did you pick? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: I stood up and I made my selection and gave it to them. And they said, \u201cYou have the brand.\u201d And that\u2019s basically what I appreciate. they didn\u2019t judge me on how big is my store, how small is my store. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: did that moment feel validating? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: It was. I didn\u2019t realise at that point how big that was but I remember that I was so happy. But then everyone was like, \u201coh my, if you have Raf Simons then you can get this brand and this brand and this brand.\u201d But going back to your question, Raf then became the centre of my buying, because it was such an important brand for me. But also, he is a designer who really shows where the trends are going to go and is one of those designers that it is important to look at to decide how the industry is going to be in a year from now, what men\u2019s clothes are going to look like in a year from now. When a year ago he made a huge change from streetwear to couture, everyone at that point was like, what\u2019s that about? Everyone right now is in couture for men. so, it\u2019s those types of details, together with my customers. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: And I think for a lot of people, understanding MACHINE-A in a very simple tagline, it\u2019s about youth and emerging design. And Raf aims to capture youth and the sentiment of youth, whether it\u2019s in a nostalgic manner or literally looking at the present. How do you look at youth culture? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: Absolutely. oh my god, it\u2019s 100 per cent so important to me. Youth culture for me is not just the customer basis but also the designers that I\u2019m working with. Every single day I\u2019m mesmerised, I\u2019m amazed by the creativity, the new ideas. If you don\u2019t put something out that talks to that culture, then I don\u2019t think you have anything in your hands. It\u2019s something very distant and it talks to a very set group of people and it is something very, very different and when we talk about youth culture it\u2019s not only connected with age necessarily, it connects with so many aesthetics and feelings and emotions. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: there\u2019s something so problematic about people fetishising youth in terms of age and only wanting young designers, I mean literally babies, kids in their cradles, to be doing design. But I think you\u2019re right in that what MACHINE-A looks at in terms of youth isn\u2019t about age so much as freshness. But you do also have a certain responsibility: I mean you\u2019re part of the British Fashion Council, you have a role. do you feel a responsibility to support young designers? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: Yes, absolutely. Another person for me that has been extremely important and actually put MACHINE-A on the map with one article was sarah Mower. she\u2019s so important to me. We did this collaboration with students and she came to the store and for 45 minutes we talked about every single brand. And she left me there and she wrote a review for US Vogue <\/i>and immediately, whoosh, that support, was almost like a blessing. She has been probably the most important figure, especially in the UK for establishing young designers. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: Yes but, as a journalist, one of the things I always think about is if I write a rave review about a young designer who is just coming up and emerging, all I think I can really do with that is give them something to repost on their Instagram. What you\u2019re doing with buying a collection or giving them practical advice about the financial aspect, that\u2019s practical support. How do you begin to give that kind of advice? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: It\u2019s very difficult because since the beginning and especially now, when I select any designer, I know what I\u2019m dealing with and I know the challenges already. I have a lot of things where if I was a different type of person or a different type of buyer, I would have signed a contract with them, and they would be bankrupt in the next three or four months. Imagine if I went and worked with those young designers, not in a helpful way. Everything that I stand for would be so fake, everything about my work and my whole existence at MACHINE-A would be so fake. I never, so far, have worked with anyone that I haven\u2019t met in person, that I haven\u2019t sat down and talked to face to face and talked about life, about work, about everything and this is the moment where I think, \u201cCan we work together?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: Is that very important to you, to understand someone\u2019s ethics before you work with them? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: Absolutely. It\u2019s the most important element because I\u2019ve seen talent before, but I\u2019ve seen people who somehow are not so good at working together, at collaboration. I will never buy a brand or a designer because I like the person\u2014both have to work together. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: You\u2019re very vocal about your feelings about Europe and the European Union, but I\u2019m interested\u2014fashion is an industry that breaks the rules and purports to be anti-bureaucratic and goes against the system. Why did the EU become so trendy? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: It\u2019s not because I\u2019m a crazy obsessive European Union person; I see a lot of wrongdoing and mistakes and \u201chow things should be done\u201d and all the problems that are combined with the EU. But fundamentally for me, the European Union is about a community and that community has given a lot of good things to people. We\u2019re talking about freedom of movement of services and products. there are a lot of things that are happening, especially in our sector and especially in the UK and London. there is a lot of [funding] that is going into the brands\u2014especially of the young designers and the emerging designers, but also so many functions of the fashion industry that wouldn\u2019t be there if it wasn\u2019t for the European Union. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: How do you see the future of fashion in London progressing? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: I think that it\u2019s something very exciting. there is a system and every system that has been created before or since is being destroyed. I think people are looking completely outside anything, especially those graduates right now, they don\u2019t want the fashion system which will dictate to them and they have to produce a collection every six months. the system has changed completely retail-wise. Call it the supreme system, because they have to give it to this brand, and they changed the system as we know it. For retailers and online shops from now on, it has nothing to do with pre-season, nothing to do with it. It is always about the drops, the new deliveries, the weekdays. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: You are inherently personal with everyone who you work with, your collaborators, your partner, you have this incredible ability to keep your personal and professional relationships incredibly intertwined. <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: It\u2019s very important to me but it\u2019s a very, very difficult relationship to keep; I see the challenges and I see the merits as well. the challenges are very, very difficult because sometimes I\u2019m not all smiles, this super sweetheart. You\u2019ve seen me being stressful and you\u2019ve seen me being a bitch! Because someone has to be, in order to make things happen, and it\u2019s very, very difficult when you\u2019re in an environment where you love the people that you\u2019re talking to in that way. But hopefully those people already know who I am and why that happens and hopefully, I have the ability to say sorry and that this is not a good moment for me. But it has a lot of challenges and I try not to take advantage of those personal relationships, because it\u2019s very easy to say, in the name of friendship or in the name of love, can you please do that for me? And sometimes I catch myself saying it. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: The difficult thing is, I think that you often do things out of friendship or out of love and so I can understand why you might ask it from other people. <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: I do, and I always try to understand where they are coming from. For example, if they want to work on a project, I am very old-fashioned and will pick up the phone and say, do you want to come and do this with me? And I like that type of relationship. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: I want to ask you about your relationship with women. there are so many women you surround yourself with\u2014whether Afroditi Panagiotakou, Anna Trevelyan or your sister\u2014 there\u2019s a quality to these people that I think you\u2019re attracted to in a certain way. <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: That\u2019s an amazing question. I don\u2019t want to sound like a mama\u2019s boy, but this is probably down to my mother: she is someone that I hugely admire and respect. she always told me, no matter what you do, be nice and be kind. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: And is this advice which, if you were mentoring someone, you would give to other people? <\/span><\/p>\n

SK: I love people to be nice, but most importantly for people to be kind; there is nothing worse to me than people being rude or disrespectful. that\u2019s the only thing I honestly don\u2019t tolerate and don\u2019t want around me. <\/span><\/p>\n

LJW: Final words from Stavros\u2014be kind, kids. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buying director and founder of MACHINE-A, Stavros Karelis, curates a collection of clothes in his store that is as unique to his eye as it is to the city it situates. originally from Crete, stavros is a firm fixture in London\u2019s fashion scene and his influence on it is supportive and stirring. The store, based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-3096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-20","tag-interviews"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QZgE-NW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3096"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3308,"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3096\/revisions\/3308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dapperdanmagazine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}