“I’ve always loved beautifully made things,” fashion designer Penelope Efthimiadis tells Neos Kosmos, though she considers herself to be more of a ‘finishing specialist’.
“What I found after working in fashion was that I was really good at finishing a garment, I liked choosing the details.”
Passionate about the art of tailoring and the craftsmanship of a bygone era, Ms Efthimiadis’ designs have nothing to do with fast trends. If you find yourself lucky enough to own one of her pieces, it will be something to cherish and enjoy for years to come.
The eldest of three, raised by the bay in Melbourne’s western suburbs, as a little girl she would sit alongside her seamstress grandmother while she transformed fabrics into wearable garments.
“Looking at her sewing I was frightened, I don’t know why. But she was like ‘one day you’ll be able to do this’.”
Educated at a prestigious dressmaking college in Thessaloniki, her trade was invaluable in 1960s Australia, when manufacturing was still a local industry. Working for a number of Australian labels in the hub that was Flinders Lane, Penelope recalls “she was such a specialist, she was very talented.”
Now, two years after her grandmother’s passing, the 25-year-old is following in the footsteps of her namesake, embarking on an exciting venture as the entrepreneur of her eponymous luxury women’s fashion label, P.E – PENELOPE EFTHIMIADIS, named after her grandmother.
Did she always want to be a fashion designer?
“Never,” she says with a laugh.
“I wanted to be an actress. I wanted to perform.”
But as often happens in life, one thing led to another and a love of costume design led her down the path of studying fashion at Melbourne’s Whitehouse Institute of Design.
“It’s kind of symbolic,” she says of her transition from theatre to fashion.
“I dress people and I see people and their lives as theatre.”
Finishing at the top of her class as Design Graduate of the Year, the designer has continued to excel.
An internship at Karen Walker in New Zealand further fuelled her passion and hunger to develop her skills and understanding of industry, leading her to the northern hemisphere, where she would call London home for two years.
Involving herself in the fashion scene, she encountered many fellow creatives, working for labels Antipodium, Leutton Postle and popular Greek designer Mary Katrantzou.
“Being in the show room for Mary in Paris was extremely exciting,” she tells Neos Kosmos.
“Going to someone like Mary who is the IT girl of the moment, you get to see how people drool over her clothing. It doesn’t really get better than that.”
With a penchant and true appreciation for the finer details, the designer started to become aware of her own aesthetic and what she had to offer. After seeing many brands doing things that she had been thinking about for years, Penelope’s tiny living quarters in London started to become the grounds for the conceptualisation of her label P.E.
“[Whilst living in London] the most important thing I learnt was self-confidence and trust in your own abilities,” she says.
Now, one year on and Penelope Efthimiadis is colouring in the lines of her creation. She has a vision: to sell women the world over quality, clean and structured design – something modern, yet classic, with, of course, an impeccable attention to detail.
“You remember Amelia Earhart? (American aviation pioneer, 1920s) That type of a go-getter woman who wants to feel comfortable and good in herself. That’s who I have in mind when I design.”
Inspired by the little things, from a silhouette to a simple button, for this designer it’s all about understanding the fabric and the technology behind it.
“You never really know where your ideas come from, but fabric is the first thing,” she says with confidence.
“Whenever I design the first thing I do is look at fabric. When a good garment suits the fabric, it stands out no matter what it is. It works.”
Since returning to Australia in 2013, the designer has been hard at work, putting together her first collection, meanwhile being selected to take part in the cultural program of this year’s VAMFF festival, which saw the designer put together a seven-part video series of what it is to build a brand.
“Everything that I’ve put into it is me,” she tells Neos Kosmos.
“That’s what you do with a brand, you create the heritage of it and I feel because I’ve touched it all, no matter what happens now, we’ve always got somewhere to hold onto and somewhere to start.”
Following the success of P.E’s VIP salon presentation night earlier this month showcasing Collection II, entitled Frais – French for ‘cool’ – held at Dockland’s Cotton Mills, the designer is seeing a growing interest in her designs, namely her range of Formula One inspired F1 clutches.
When trying to sum up her design aesthetic as well as possible, Ms Efthimiadis always seems to come back to her familial roots.
“I was in London and I saw a book in this op shop about Greece,” she recalls.
“There was a quote about how Greece is like modern classicism where East meets West – you’re in the middle of two different things. And that’s kind of where I see P.E. It’s not classic and it’s not modern, it’s sort of in that middle.”

For further information on P.E – PENELOPE EFTHIMIADIS, visit the label’s website www.penelopeefthimiadis.com or their Facebook page www.facebook.com/penelopeefthimiadisPE