18-year-old Greek American Despina Kotsis, from Brooklyn, New York, has always loved fashion and from a child wanted to become a designer.
Her dream has now come true as she recently launched a streetwear range Minx, that is now available worldwide.
“My favourite part about being a designer is watching my creations come to life and seeing them worn. That feeling of accomplishment you get inside when you see somebody wear your design is amazing.”
Despina says she mainly finds inspiration for her designs and styles from buzzing New York City, which is an artists dream destination. "My designs are like ideas, once they come into my head I have to start creating them so I don't forget.”
She also says another huge influence behind her designs is pigeons.
Living in New York City, she noticed the birds were everywhere, “I would always see people trying to scare the birds away. I thought to myself, even though we are much bigger than the little birds, they have wings. Once they spread them, they have the power to fly anywhere they want in this world and I believe we do too. We are exactly like the pigeons, but much bigger. I want people to notice we all have our own set of wings, and if we spread them just like the birds, we are open to endless opportunities in this world.
"I want people to be inspired by the symbol of the pigeon and my line, so that they can live life to the fullest and follow there dreams like I am doing now.”
To get into her creative element, Despina listens to music as it makes her happy and allows the creative juices to flow quicker, “When I close my eyes and feel the vibe and lyrics of a song, I try to take what I am feeing and display it through my designs in the form of a colour or something.”
She also “believes social media plays a huge role in fashion today because Instagram allows designs to be noticed from around the whole world, which makes it so awesome. I'm getting noticed from all these places I've never even been to before, which is amazing.”
Despina's dream now is to see Giannis Antetokounmpo sporting her range as “he is my favourite basketball player. His story is truly amazing and I would love to see him in my line. I would also love too see it on Lady Gaga because she has been a fashion inspiration for me. I love how she stands out and is bold.”
In the next few years Despina hopes for Minx to be known globally.
“Even though it usually takes a while for anybody to get noticed in a big world like this, I believe that if you work hard you can achieve what you want. But you must always remember to think positive and not let what other people say affect you or your own grind."
Giving an insight exclusive to GCT readers about her upcoming 2018 Summer Collection that will launch in a couple of weeks, Despina described it as “UNIQUE. All I can say is that the designs for this collection are something else! They really define the words New York and Streetwear perfectly! You guys just have to wait and see!”
If Despina is successful with her line, the first thing she wants to do is to take her family to Greece, so they can all touch base with their heritage and culture.
