We founded Christossi in February of 2020 full of optimism, excitement and totally ready to take on the challenge. We decided that our brand would be for explorers like us, people who loved travelling to new cities and wanted clothes with a story and personality. The idea was that we would travel to different countries, source vintage clothes and shoot the collection in our favourite spots.
For the first season we decided on Berlin, it has a reputation for being effortlessly cool, creative and forward thinking. Everything we wanted our brand to be along with having some of the most incredible scenes for us to shoot our campaigns. Brandenburg gate is a VIBE! The idea was that from here we would move to Italy or Greece for the summer and then Paris in time for Christmas.
After finding an Airbnb in Prenzlauer Berg we moved to Germany with six suitcases, two laptops and our credit cards. What could go wrong! In just two weeks we sourced, shot and presented our first collection 'Christossi Berlin' and the brand was born. In all honesty this period was a blur, we shot the collection early in the morning to avoid the crowds and were editing until gone midnight to get everything ready. Add a few bottles of red wine to keep the creativity going and we really didn't know what day it was.
Coronavirus was on the news but until this point no one was taking it seriously, there was no quarantine, no masks, no distancing. On the night we decided to celebrate our first launch we literally watched the city shut down, we sat in a bar as the police made their way along the street. Lights were going out one after another, after another and by the time we walked home the streets were dead. Our Berlin adventure was all of a sudden looking a lot less adventurous and a lot more terrifying. Not long after Ross got stuck in London, the borders were closing and our insurance policies weren't going to cover us if we got the Covid. Eeek!
I don't know how but I managed to pack all six suitcases, ship them home, get myself home and avoid getting Covid just before they cancelled all flights. Not the adventure we were hoping for but an adventure nonetheless.