top of page
240518-WavesofChange-OceanRising_Fashion-6073-2048x1365_edited.jpg

ABOUT MELISSA

"I love creating. I imagine my creations floating through a landscape riddled with mystery and divine beauty."

My passion is to create my own unique sustainable textiles, color, movement, pattern and details. My design motivation is to create timeless ethereal gowns that the wearer can express their inner feminine goddess.”

Education:

In 2004, I graduated as student of the year from a Bachelor of Design in Fashion and Textiles at the University of Technology Sydney. My first collection of intricate handmade copper detailing and hand dyed ombre silks gained national and international attention with some of

my creations displayed in Museums Worldwide.

In 2005 I sent my portfolio to Italian Fashion Designer Roberto Cavalli asking for 5 weeks work experience but instead received a call from him personally asking me to join his First Line design team in Florence Italy. He called me ‘his discovery’ and I was known in the company as ‘the hands’ because of the way I experimented with fabrics transforming them into beautiful unique details. In 2006 one of my designs was the best selling dress and broke

records for the company. My designs were featured on the Milan Fashion week catwalks and The Oscars Red Carpet.

After 2 years working at Cavalli I decided to continue on my journey to accomplish more life dreams and in Sydney I opened my own label, ‘Melissa Kritsotakis’ atelier and boutique. My hand dyed and hand painted silk fabrics attracted clientele and celebrities that appreciated

high quality and one of a kind pieces they could treasure forever, some clients still wearing dresses they purchased many years ago!

After visiting the USA in 2013 where my designs gained demand in the US market and I fell in love with the creative energy in Los Angeles I decided to expand and persue my creative passions to bring my designs to life through grander collaborative artistic projects, so started

the mission to relocate.

During the transition process in 2015 I engaged in an amazing underwater photography project in The Bahamas collaborating with Elena Kalis. My gowns took on a new life form as they were captured floating underwater. This ignited my new found artistic passion of art/fashion/ocean and interest in sustainability as I created my first sustainable couture gown in The Bahamas which was made from hundreds of silk cut-off pieces from previous designs that I tied to a re-used gold net creating a feather like effect.

In 2017 I officially moved to Los Angeles and created ready to wear collections shown in NYC, stocked in boutiques internationally, have had couture creations featured in music videos, commercials, celebrity editorial, photo shoots and movies.

Now in 2024 after having slowed the gears to create my best ever creations, my two beautiful little girls! I am venturing into my best era yet, further expanding on my natural design style of ‘timeless’ slow fashion and on an evolving mission to feature sustainability in all my designs

through the use of remnant silks as beautiful colourful design features and details. I have some very exciting projects underway and can’t wait to share with the world!

My personal mission in this lifetime is to use all my creative energy to bring to life my truest most authentic art with awareness and care of our planet so that I can gift joy and beauty for decades to come.

  • Instagram

© 2024 Melissa Kritsotakis

bottom of page