In Athens, the summer yachting season arrived with a boatful of Zeus+Dione models breezing into a harbor. As they stepped off a tiny traditional wooden caique fishing-boat amongst the international super-yachts lining the new Astir Marina, a party for the brand’s newest store opening was in full swing on the quay. It felt like a flying of the flag for a new generation’s vision built on authentic Greek culture.
Creatively helmed by Marios Schwab since he left London for Athens in 2021, Zeus+Dione’s fortunes have been buoyed up by his taste for modern-elegant dressing, a cruise-friendly wardrobe, and accessories and jewelry. Its growing collection is sourced from collaborations with over 80 artisan-makers throughout the country. “I love the craftsmanship of Greece,” Schwab said as the models disembarked. “But also I like the newness and energy that’s coming from Athens. I try to encompass a representation of both.”
Elis Kiss, editor in chief of Vogue Greece was watching customers thronging the store. “There’s an identity to it which has a very unique story-telling,” she observed. “It’s luxury ready-to-wear with a lifestyle that really reflects the way we see Greece and ourselves today.” She places the Zeus+Dione phenomenon as part of the movement in the arts, fashion, food, and design that’s been on the rise amongst young entrepreneurs since the country hit financial rock-bottom in 2009.
Just across the promontory from the Four Seasons hotel, the marina holds its own significant social position in the glamorous past of Greece—and its present. Formerly the Astir Palace, the hotel was the 1960s playground for the likes of Onassis, Jackie Kennedy, Brigitte Bardot, Frank Sinatra, and too many politicians to mention. Today, its once-small harbor has been deepened and transformed into a luxury destination for the international high-spenders who float around the Mediterranean on their super-yachts all summer. Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Dior, Gucci, Loro Piana, and Dolce Gabbana have lined it with their shiny new stores, speaking volumes about how keen fashion is on laying out its wares for these ultra-valuable sea-borne customers in the sun.
Thanks to new investment, Zeus+Dione is now alongside them, offering one place to shop for some real Greekness. There are rails full of the brand’s signature stripe-patterned silk and airy organza blouses and dresses woven in Soufli, a remote area of Northern Greece; hand-made straw hats in the shape of sailor caps; gold earrings, necklaces, and bangles inspired by Greek nymphs, dolphins, and acanthus leaves; and bold modern studio ceramics echoing ancient forms.
Steered by Dimitra Kolotoura, Zeus+Dione is in expansion mode. Her recipe of Greek authenticity and modernity—founded on the aim to preserve endangered regional Greek craftsmanship 15 years ago—has paid off in the form of recent investment from Halcyon Equity Partners. Kolotoura was circulating, introducing the fund’s Eleni Bathianaki to guests. “Our strategy is investing in companies which are the best of Greece,” she declared. Kolotoura smiled. “It’s a perfect chemistry! When we started talking, I realized Eleni’s been wearing our clothes for 10 years.”
Kolotoura began Zeus+Dione with Mareva Grabowski as a start-up in 2012. After Grabowski left in 2020, Kolotouradiscovered an ideal design talent in Schwab. A Greek-Austrian who left to take a Masters at Central Saint Martins and then founded his own brand to high acclaim in London in the aughts, Schwab is amongst a wave of creative people who’ve been inspired to return to Greece to invent a very modern-feeling renaissance of old and new values. “What’s really important is the social aspect of it,” he says. “That we try to not only inspire manufacturers to grow and do the work with us, but also potentially with others. I mean, for me, it’s inspiring to know that the sandal maker that I work with, or the jewelry maker, gets inspired and grows with me, and sees a new way to introduce traditional heritage in a modern eye.”
Kolotoura ties their public breakthrough to the spectacular fashion show on Piraeus’s docks they staged in 2023. “Finally, people could understand the level of what we were doing. It started to accumulate a lot of interest from funds in London and Paris.” With the signing of the new Greek investment, she sparkles with confidence. A new store is about to open in Saloniki, Greece’s second city. “I have an optimistic and aggressive business plan: to open more stores, improve online, and go deeper into the categories.” And next? “We’re looking at Paris.”
