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2004 Athens Olympics to dispense with ancient Greek kitsch
Athens, Sept 18: The Greeks` usual idea of giving foreigners a taste of their country`s ancient heritage follows a simple recipe:
Athens, Sept 18: The Greeks' usual idea of giving foreigners a taste of their country's ancient heritage follows a simple recipe:
Take a dozen adolescent girls, dress them as 'virgin
priestesses' in long, white linen tunics, and let them chant
unintelligible psalms in dreary replays of ancient rituals.
But the team in charge of the opening ceremony for the 2004 Athens Olympics has different ideas.
"There won't be one single tunic," promises designer Sophia Kokosalaki, one of Greece's best-known names on the international fashion scene, and the ceremony's wardrobe mistress.
The team around choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou wants "to avoid at all cost folklore and cheap sentimentality", Kokosalaki told.
Greeks are justifiably proud of their 3,500-year-old history, but only rarely do they display the ability to treat it in a relaxed, ironic way.
"Obviously, there will be references to tradition, culture and the country's history, but there won't be one single tunic," laughs the young designer, acclaimed for her talent by the international fashion press since staging her first show in London back in 1999.
She promises nevertheless "a lot of emotion" during the ceremony launching the Athens Olympics on August 13, 2004.
"The project is already drawn up, we're polishing it right now," she says. The "modern and simple" event will last no more than three and a half hours. "It would be boring otherwise," she says.
Bureau Report
But the team in charge of the opening ceremony for the 2004 Athens Olympics has different ideas.
"There won't be one single tunic," promises designer Sophia Kokosalaki, one of Greece's best-known names on the international fashion scene, and the ceremony's wardrobe mistress.
The team around choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou wants "to avoid at all cost folklore and cheap sentimentality", Kokosalaki told.
Greeks are justifiably proud of their 3,500-year-old history, but only rarely do they display the ability to treat it in a relaxed, ironic way.
"Obviously, there will be references to tradition, culture and the country's history, but there won't be one single tunic," laughs the young designer, acclaimed for her talent by the international fashion press since staging her first show in London back in 1999.
She promises nevertheless "a lot of emotion" during the ceremony launching the Athens Olympics on August 13, 2004.
"The project is already drawn up, we're polishing it right now," she says. The "modern and simple" event will last no more than three and a half hours. "It would be boring otherwise," she says.
Bureau Report