Christopher Chronis is an Australian fashion designer. Chronis has designed men's and women's fashions under the Christopher Chronis Designs, Gas Station and Christos fashion labels. He is now the head designer of Global Designer Brands.
Early life
Chronis grew up in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Richmond, which is where his parents, both from Greece, settled. After high school, Chronis commenced a civil engineering but during the first year of his course he dropped out when he realised his passion was for the fashion industry. He pursued a sales position with a major high fashion shoe retailer Mr Figgins and within a year was promoted to a managerial position making him one of the youngest managers within the company. In 1981 he joined the fashion designers Merivale and Mr John, in the retail department of their Melbourne store and in 1983 he commenced an apprenticeship with designer Demitrius which involved production and design.
Stand-alone stores
Chronis opened his first store in Chapel Street, South Yarra. Other stores were opened in the Melbourne, Sydney, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. His fashions have also been sold by other retailers including major department stores. He launched his signature fragrance Christos in 1998 and has also used the CCD brand on a number of café and restaurant ventures. In 2000 after Chronis was on the brink of financial ruin the stores were seized by receiver KPMG, Mr Chronis reported that his business would be rescued by a group of investors, Tony Mokbel with associate Jack Smit, borrowed $1.4 million to buy designer Christopher Chronis's business. Christopher is the head of design for Global Designer Brands, has designed for the Playboy Icon luxury evening-wear collection for men and women and has also opened Playboy concept boutiques in Australia, New Zealand and a London flagship store in Oxford Street. There are three Christopher Chronis stores in Melbourne, one in Oxford Street Sydney, one in Auckland and one in Oxford Street, London. Christopher is now the head of design for Global Designer Brands, has designed for the Playboy Icon luxury evening-wear collection for men and women and has also opened Playboy concept boutiques in Australia, New Zealand and a London flagship store in Oxford Street.
The Australian Fashion Industry Awards 1994 Mens PM/Gala wear.
The Australian Fashion Industry Awards 1995 Mens weekend wear.
The National Australian Print Award 1997 for best catalogue category.
Personal life
Christopher lives in Melbourne with his wife Christine and son Nikita.
Coming to Vietnam
Christopher travelled to several Asian countries before deciding to start up some F& B related businesses in Vietnam. He set up Playboy Establishment in Hanoi in 2017 with transient success. The place was then passed to other owner and closed in 2018. In 2019, he set up Madame Sau on Level 67 of the Vincom Landmark 81th, in Ho Chi Minh City. This was a short life project. After the opening in April 2019, it was closed by February 2020. Christopher spent a lot of Investor's money in this project and still owed money to staff as well as suppliers, but he disappeared.
