Chopova Lowena's spring/summer 2023 collection finds itself in Bulgaria's central Rose valley. Each year, as summer onsets in the village of Kazanlak, young women dress up to select their Rose Queen, embracing the strangeness of pageantry and the tackiness and tenderness of a national tradition. The interplay of heritage and modernity, of beauty and sport, is central to the Chopova Lowena philosophy. Today, for the brand's first runway show, Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena-Irons go back to their roots to reimagine Bulgaria's loveliest festival with a lacrosse-inspired twist.

"When you see a rose, you smell a rose," says Chopova, "and the ideas we use in the collection give the same kind of signal." Dresses are ribboned at the waist with petaled string: togetherness. Handmade macramé necklaces and bags are knotted around healing crystals: protection. Lacrosse pennies are made in logo tinsel: camaraderie. Traditional Bulgarian textiles are brought back into the collection as skirts and vests, buttoned up over silken shirts and neckties: heritage, belonging to the thread of time. Doodle-printed swimsuits and tough girl, chain-braided jeans: playfulness, silliness, mischief. Black aprons unbuckle from coral plaid skirts: transformation. A white deadstock lace dress is for your wedding: the most sacred love.