Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena-Irons are book fiends. Back in 2018, the designer duo behind cult label Chopova Lowena teamed up with Charlotte Wales for Kukeri, a publication documenting the Bulgarian folk festival Surva, where men dress as monsters and dance along the streets to ward off evil spirits. After that it was Kür, another book produced in collaboration with Wales, which featured Team GB’s Equestrian Vaulting squad in Chopova Lowena’s AW19 collection. Then followed last year’s Conversations With Angels, a sell-out edition that reimagined Chloë Sevigny as Hans Christian Andersen’s misunderstood Snow Queen. It’s safe to say that the pair love printed matter, and they’re latest collaboration seems to back that theory up, too.
To celebrate the opening of Climax Books’ New York flagship, Emma and Laura have teamed up with the indie bookseller for a brand new Chopova Lowena capsule. Inspired by the energy of vintage love letters, the collection comprises clothes and accessories designed with certified lover girls in mind. A pink hoodie is studded with a scribbled cartoon woman reading from a love note, while vintage-style charms adorn bracelets and necklaces too.
Elsewhere, there’s ruffled pink underwear and a pouch that looks like a love letter, while hardware on zips also come with their own dangling little hearts and charms. The cartoon woman reading from a book – which the brand describes as the Chopova Lowena x Climax Books heroine – is featured heavily throughout, most notably on a t-shirt where you can lift up her bloomers.
Climax Books was founded by former Dazed editor-in-chief Isabella Burley in 2020, as a destination for rare books, hard-to-find ephemera, periodicals, erotica, VHS tapes, anthologies, and more. Burley’s first brick and mortar store was established in October 2023 in London’s Soho, and the New York flagship will be opening on September 5, 2024.
The Chopova Lowena x Climax Books capsule will be sold exclusively at Climax NYC, Climax London HQ, and at climaxbooks.com.