“The light, the energy, the good weather, the history and the culture of this city – along with the warmth of the Greeks – are just a few of the factors that make Athens so compelling.”

One stand-out brand is Ancient Greek Sandals, which helped create a global trend for beachy footwear that nods to the country’s Hellenic past.

“I always wanted to come home to Athens and make something inspired by the country I grew up in,” says co-founder Christina Martini, who started her career at Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga in Paris.

“I always loved the sandals I saw being sold around the Acropolis – I wanted to do something similar, but in fantastic materials.

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“I start by looking at museums and archaeological books – from there I make sketches. I think the finished result has been so popular because so many people have a personal connection to Greece – whether it is because of their holidays or the country’s incredible history.”

Her brand, which makes sliders, flip flops and beach bags in rich leathers in ateliers around Greece, has been picked up by retailers such as Net-a-Porter.

“I’m really excited about the new generation of Greek fashion designers as they have such a sustainable approach to fashion,” says Karafyllidou. “They upcycle clothes and have such impressive craftsmanship skills.”

That helps explain why the city’s rep­utation as a hub for handmade clothes is reviving.

Couture is still controversial: some have said that handmade clothes are elitist and have no place in an industry obsessed with speed to market, Instagram hype and dressing down.

But as we have seen from the most recent haute couture shows in Paris, these sorts of clothes are still the lifeblood of the industry – and in many ways are far more sustainable than pieces designed to be worn once or twice.

A few factors play in Athens’ favour: rents have stayed low compared with those in other European capitals, allow­ing skilled designers and seam­stresses to maintain ateliers in the city.

There has also been an influx of immigrants escaping conflict in the Middle East, many of whom have brought crafting skills with them.

“Immigration is controversial,” says one young designer I speak to. “But we forget the wealth of experience and talent so many of these new arrivals have. They add to our industry, rather than detract from it.”

Hence major international fashion brands are opting to hold shows in the Greek capital and work with local talent.

In 2021, Dior hosted its cruise collection in the 2,000-year-old Panathenaic Stadium. Creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri used the Athens show to explore the relationship between Parisian fashion houses and the ancient world.

Guests looked back to 1951, when Christian Dior models in ball gowns posed in front of the sculpted female figures of the caryatids of the Acropolis.

Seventy years later, Dior chose to work with Greek fashion businesses rather than merely photograph the country’s past – jackets for the collection were made with the Silk Line, an Eastern Macedonian factory that uses traditional Greek jacquard techniques.

The caps on the catwalk, meanwhile, were made by the family-owned Atelier Tsalavoutas.

For other brands thinking of doing something similar, there is a wealth of talent to choose from, as all around Athens there are specialist ateliers that take on apprentices to ensure their particular skill set, whether it’s feather-making, button-making, knitting or glove-making, is passed on.

And in Kolonaki, Perikleous and Psychiko – leafy, increasingly fashionable boroughs of the city – designers are working with these craftspeople to create individual pieces of clothing that begin with a watercolour and end with a pistachio green dress or a perfectly cut velvet suit.

Some – such as Atelier Loukia and Costarellos – make clothes that are imbued with the sunshine and optimism of Greece. Inside are rails filled with white gowns, brightly coloured silks, embellished buttons and embroidered shoes, hats and bags. Others offer just one single studio space with a talented seamstress waiting to get to work.

Falling firmly into the former camp is Deux Hommes, a label run by Dimitris Alexakis and Grigoris Triantafyllou, who make extravagant evening-wear out of embroidered silk, velvets, chiffon and sequins.

And then there is Mi-Ro, headed by Dimitris Mastrokalos and Giannis Raptis and offering an ultra-modern, clean aesthetic.

“We believe that the Greek designers of today are a bit more extrovert,” says Mastrokalos. “Maybe because of the economic crisis our country found itself in or maybe because their aesthetics and references are more international.”

On the more hipster front, Me Then is a contemporary fashion brand run by George Soumpasis, Mary Giatra-Ritsou and Tasos Papageorgiou, and founded in 2014 as a reaction to the Greek economic crisis that started in the late 2000s.

Sounding like “zero” in Greek, Me Then aims to develop a sense of reflection and inspire new beginnings. The resulting clothes are offbeat, creative and youthful.

At the other end of the scale is Kritharioti, who is the only Greek designer to show at Paris couture week. She has nurtured the sort of high-octane aesthetic we usually see from the Italian fashion cohort and works with some of the most famous women in the world – think Beyoncé and the Kardashians.

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A-listers seek her out because she’s able to make women’s bodies look as though they’ve been passed through the most flattering filter that exists.

Kritharioti’s family has long been in the fashion business: her grandparents started making couture pieces in Athens in the early 1900s, and in the 1980s her father bought Athenian couture brand Tsouchlos, which Kritharioti took over.

Her atelier, in the heart of the Plaka (the historical neighbourhood clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis), is spread across three floors of sunny rooms, and in them Greek women of all ages turn colourful crepe, silk, feathers and sequins into head-turning gowns.

I can see the appeal. I have been on the shop floor for all of 10 minutes when one of her staff suggests I try on some of her designs.

Standing there in my jeans and jumper, I feel reluctant to change into these high-wattage pieces, but the moment I put on one of her long black gowns, I seem to grow stronger.

“As the zipper goes up, so should your self-esteem,” Kritharioti says. “Women place so much of their sense of self in the way they feel that they forget it often doesn’t correspond with the way they actually look.

“Once I put them in one of my designs they feel better because they are wearing clothes that shape the body in all the right places. When I’m standing next to them, I see an immediate change in the way they look at themselves; suddenly they are posing in the mirror like a model.”

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Kritharioti has launched a ready-to-wear collection but her main focus is on couture.

“Couture is the opposite of old-fashioned – it’s very sustainable,” she says. “People always say, shop less but shop better but, here, designs are fitted to you and made for your body. Nothing makes you feel better than that.”

She is particularly pensive when talking about her home city, acknowledging its flaws in one breath while extolling its virtues in the next.

“Athens is growing and full of young people and is gradually finding its way onto the fashion map,” she says. “The particular quality of the light here makes it easy for anyone to get inspired.”