Kokosalaki to head up Vionnet

6-London-based Greek designer Sophia Kokosalaki has confirmed she is set to take over as creative director of the Parisian house of Vionnet. "It is such a great honour to be asked to work at Vionnet. It is an aesthetic that I completely admire and understand, and an approach towards designing that I relate and look up to," the 33 year old St Martin's graduate told Vogue. "It is definitely challenging but also exciting to continue a house with such a unique heritage. The fact that her work has been a recurrent reference of designers for almost a century now is a testimony to the genius and timelessness of Vionnet."

Madeleine Vionnet founded her label in 1912 and opened her fashion house in Paris in 1923. She became a fashion legend, alongside Cristobal Balenciaga, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. She was the inventor of the bias-cut, attracting high-profile clients like Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. She entered the US market in 1925 and became one of the first couturiers to adapt haute couture to ready-to-wear. She presented her last collection in 1939, yet the company continued to wield influence in the fashion industry.

Vionnet's chief executive Arnaud de Lummen expressed his delight at Kokosalaki's appointment. "Vionnet has one of the most exceptional fashion heritages and a timeless appeal," he said. "Our return on the fashion scene will not be an ordinary revival but a unique and genuine approach to bring forward the Vionnet vision. Sophia, with her technical abilities and contemporary feminine vision, will be a rare position to honour the past of the House and invent its future." Her collections for Vionnet will launch in time for spring 2007 and will be exclusively available at Barneys New York, Beverly Hills, Dallas, Boston and Chicago and at the Vionnet Studio in Paris.