When the guests arrived at the Mouki Mou store in Athens at 6 p.m. on the last weekend in May, they grabbed cool glasses of Greek rosé before retiring to the concrete-lined boutique. Its founder, Maria Lemos, who grew up in Greece, opened the store in the city’s historic center, Plaka, in 2023, ten years after Mouki Mou’s flagship store was established on London’s Chiltern Street. In both places, she curates a roster of under-the-radar clothing and homewares brands that focus on craftsmanship with a tactile wabi-sabi approach. On this particular night, the brand in focus was Dosa, founded by Korean-American designer Christina Kim, 67, in 1983. The label is known for its roomy clothes made from natural, handmade fabrics that evoke workwear such as shepherd jackets, kurtas (long, loose shirts common in Pakistan), cossack blouses and dashikis (boxy tops worn in West Africa), as well as her zero-waste approach to production.
As well as presenting Kim’s latest clothing collection, Lemos, 59, who is also the founder of London-based PR agency Rainbowave, commissioned Kim to design an art installation. The work, titled “Shades of White / Whisper of Gold,” is a curtain of delicate gold leaf created in collaboration with the Oaxacan papermaking cooperative El Taller Arte Papel. Each paper form was made using an impression of a bay leaf collected from a tree outside the co-op workshop, then embedded with wire and hand colored with gold pencil and spray paint. “To me, white and gold mean Greece,” he says. “It’s the Greek light and all those whitewashed villages.”
As the temperature dropped, guests climbed two steps to the U-shaped roof terrace, which was planted with flowers, oregano, jasmine, thyme and miniature pomegranates. On their way, they took in the new Dosa collection, which was housed on the store’s second floor and consisted of gauzy kaftan dresses, delicate camisoles, wide leg pants and shawls, all in creamy hues with orange and gold accents. Also on display were gold-leaf patterned shoes by Athens-based company Ancient Greek Sandals and 18-karat gold rings and pendants with rough-cut crystals by London-based designer Pippa Small, made especially to coincide with the collaboration. Once outside, those present could see the acropolis on the upper hill to the sound of musicians playing Athenian and Ionian carols, or love songs, drifted into the roof garden and into the night.
Attendees: Friends and associates of Lemos came from many corners of the world: Kim, 67, flew in from Los Angeles; Jon, 65, and Tiina Rosen, 60, of Tiina the Store, the recently closed minimalist clothing and design boutique in Amagansett, came from New York. Other attendees included British actress and producer Daisy Bates, 50. o Ancient Greek Sandals founder and designer Christina Martini, 47; Italian artist Paolo Colombo, 75; interior designer Lida Athanasopoulou, 33, who designed both the store and Pagosta, the Lemos guesthouse she and her husband, Grigoris Kambouroglou, 61, opened in Patmos in 2022. and Tina Daskalondaki, 50, curator of the Museum of Cycladic Art of Athens.
The table: Servers dressed in uniforms from Danish bedding and sleepwear brand Tekla wove between the property’s three levels, offering large white bowls of fennel and pies and golden fried zucchini flowers stuffed with rice, but there was also a table on the east side of the terrace, from which guests could help themselves to food. An oat-colored linen tablecloth by Venice-based textile designer Chiarastella Cattana formed a backdrop for gray and white earthenware plates by Danish father-son designer duo KH Würtz. A hammered copper bowl filled with floating marigold heads made for a statement centerpiece.
The food: Working with Athenian catering company Dipnosofistirion, which specializes in classic Greek dishes, Lemos sought to celebrate what he calls the country’s “gilded ancient past — keeping everything simple and aiming hospitality, love for his guest.” Food and drink were served on each floor to keep everyone full at all times. Street vendor-style brown paper cones were filled with shelled pistachios “because they’re such an ancient form of food in Greece,” says Lemos. The olive bread slices came from Tromero Paidi, Lemos’ favorite bakery in Athens. On the island of Kasos, miniature dolmades (vine leaves stuffed with dill, parsley, spices and rice) were made. In a break from tradition, there were poppy seed-filled madeleine bites for dessert, along with bowls of cherries and apricots, as well as candied peanuts from the 96-year-old Athenian patisserie Aristokratikos.
The drinks: The guests were greeted with copper decanters of his Rosé Magoutes, a blend of 80 percent Xinomavro grapes and 20 percent rare black Moschomavro grapes, all grown about 2,600 feet above sea level in the rocky terrain of Siatista, Macedonia. The delicate pink wine, which has notes of red currant and strawberry, is served in classic glass tavern glasses. Also offered was Lemonodasos — a lemonade made with citrus fruits from a lemon grove in Poros, a port city on the Peloponnese peninsula.
Music: At the beginning of the evening, the musicians Spyros Mandalas and Dimitris Christodoulopoulos, performing as the Zakynthos Singers, were placed on the front steps of the store. They played mandolin and guitar and sang Ionian and Athenian chants. Their lyrics dealt with old Athens, describing the winding back streets of the neighborhood of Moukiou Mou and its beautiful houses, flowers and women. Once the guests arrived at the house, the duo brought their music to the roof.
The conversation: Many of the guests were long-time Dosa fans and spent the evening extolling the brand’s love of craftsmanship, tradition and upcycling. Others marveled at Athens’ new cultural landscape, discussing the opening of a new outpost of the Michael Werner Gallery earlier in the month and the release of the latest issue of Nomas, an art and travel magazine published by fellow guest and photographer Yiannis Bournias, 52 years old.
Suggestion: When hosting, dress simply. “I’ve given this a lot of thought after my husband and I opened the guesthouse in Patmos”, says Lemos. “Flat shoes are extremely important because you’re running around looking after your guests.” For the occasion, Lemos wore black woven leather Mary Jane flats by London-based brand Le Monde Beryl with a short khadi cotton Dosa dress and giant yellow gold cubic earrings by New York designer Judy Geib. “You don’t want to outdo anyone, really. You are not the center of attention. But you have to be stylish and comfortable at the same time. I want to be ready in five minutes when I host — my focus has to be everywhere else.”
