Sophia Kokosalaki lives and works in London s East End. Her studio is right where last year s riots roiled. She watches the kids relaxing in Victoria Park, where, as she says, "you might not have money but your look is important." That s the kind of honest, everyday life that had a big effect on her pre-collection for Diesel Black Gold. The Lurex-threaded knits were the sort of thing Kokosalaki sees on stalls in Broadway Market. There was urban athleticism in a bonded cotton shift with a racer back, or a net tank, or short shorts. A baseball jacket was based on one the designer wore when she was 16 years old (though she revisited it in butter-soft pastel suede). The cocktail dresses paired with trainers felt like a proper Diesel hybrid, but there was also something New Wave-y about the look.
In fact, the eighties weighed heavily on the collection. It s a decade those cash-stretched creatives in her neighborhood are particularly attached to, according to Kokosalaki. So there was a patchworked print inspired by New Wave record sleeves in the Victoria and Albert Museum s Postmodernism exhibition, along with stiff pieces that were a reminder of how structured clothes were back in the day. "Stiff is cooler," Kokosalaki said with a wry laugh as she hauled out a hide-bound biker jacket and black cotton jeans lacquered to look like leather. She also went to the soft end of the eighties spectrum with washed silk jumpsuits and a trench—top half gab, bottom half detachable sheer silk. The kids in Victoria Park mightn t have the money for these pieces, but they ll surely appreciate Kokosalaki s artful evocation of a golden era in inner-city style.
