March 19, 2025 |
Biig Piig, 27, the Irish-born, London-based musician – real name Jessica Smyth – known for her ethereal vocals and genre-defying sound, has found a kindred spirit in Chopova Lowena, the British-Bulgarian fashion brand lauded for its riotous fusion of traditional craftsmanship, sports sensibility and punk codes. While both thrive on a healthy disregard for convention, their creative chemistry is electric, representing a cultural movement where music and fashion intersect.
Biig Piig’s lo-fi beats and dreamy vocals resonate with Chopova Lowena’s eclectic aesthetic – it’s bold, yet personal. This synergy has been evident in her performances, namely her 2023 Village Underground set in Shoreditch, where she wore the brand’s signature pleated skirts, and at the SS25 Chopova Lowena afterparty, where her hardware-heavy ensemble reflected the same individuality she channels in her music. Their relationship extends beyond visuals, too: Biig Piig wore Chopova Lowena’s pieces in her In the Dark music video, reinforcing their shared DIY ethos and commitment to storytelling. With Biig Piig’s personal lyrical themes aligning with Chopova Lowena’s inherent spirit, their collaboration is more than stylistic – it’s a shared vision of fearless self-expression. Together, they exemplify a new wave of artistry that redefines the relationship between fashion and music. With every beat drop and pleat fold, they’re rewriting the rulebook. Here, founders Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena-Irons talk with Biig Piig to unpack their creative connection. EP
CHOPOVA LOWENA
Emma Chopova We’ve been listening to your music for a long time.
Laura Lowena-Irons There was one song that was our song of the collection. What was it?
EC Switch [from 2020].
Biig Piig Oh, I love. That’s actually my favourite one to play live. It’s so good. I just go feral.
EC Yeah, as you should! But also, way before that. We’re OG fans.
LLI Emma has an obsession with music when she’s into a song. She has to play it over and over and over again. There are a lot of your songs which are ingrained in our brains.
BP Love that. I’m the same. If I find something [good], I’m just hooked. I can’t stop listening… I think I found you guys, though, because Rhian from Wet Leg put something up on her [Instagram] Story and she was wearing one of your pieces. I thought, “Your collection is insane,” like, “Wow, the make on this is unreal.”
EC Music is so personal. I can’t say [why I admire what you do] in some really amazing way, but I think when you connect to music, you just do. We’ve grownup with a lot of riot grrrl music, and I think your sound has a little bit of that in it, which we love.
BP I was listening to powerful female musicians growing up.Who I feel had a big impact on my life is Gabrielle – that’s a huge one because of the relationship I had to her music – Patti Smith, The Runaways, Beyoncé and Britney [Spears] – that Circus album[from 2008] was big for me.
LLI Mine is Bikini Kill. Hole. Massive Attack. Portishead.
EC Sonic Youth.
BP Sinéad O’Connor.
EC We could go on. Fever Ray, Warpaint…
LLI I mean, Britney.
BP Britney!
EC It always comes back to Britney.
BP Hell, yeah. Girl power.
LLI That’s probably where it all started.
CHOPOVA LOWENA
BP It’s Britney, bitch. [Laughs] I love what you guys make though, because I feel like it’s reimagining identity and heritage. There’s a boldness to it and a sense of adventure that really excites me. Wearing Chopova Lowena makes me feel badass.
EC Oh, that’s the best thing ever to hear… All of our collections are inspired by half sportswear, half folklore. So the SS25 one was inspired by ’90s, early 2000s, even ’80s gymnastics – rhythmic gymnastics specifically. And then on the other side, because I grew up in America, we wanted to explore early American points of culture. [We looked at] frontier women of early Americana, so Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, loads of the coming of can-can [dancing] to America, so showgirls and big, amazing outfits, early Halloween outfits. Also brothels – this one amazing brothel owner, Belle Brezing, who was a female hero in a way, had this amazing house and we used prints from her carpet and scrapbooks. That collection had a lot of very heavy research.
BP I loved everything on that catwalk, it was insane. Also the shoes, I’d never seen anything designed like that. The boots I wore I’m still in love with. I wish I could wear them every day. I loved the leotards too; there were so many different ones. But what I wore to the afterparty? Oh my God, I loved that. Also, the soundtrack was banging.
EC It’s insane you’re saying that.
LLI Yeah, album coming soon from Emma Chopova!
EC Speaking of the afterparty, we couldn’t believe that you did it. It was amazing, you were the perfect choice. It was so fun to feel like we’d done something and to hear our favourite songs at the end of it.
LLI We’re so bad at celebrating after a collection, so we really wanted to have our favourite people there, and the fact that you did it was so fun for us.
BP I was so happy that you asked me to, and also, the way that you curated the night with me and then Confidence Man as well, they were insane live. And to watch you guys celebrate as well, because you deserve to celebrate so much, it was really cool to be a part of that.
EC What you wore was actually supposed to be a show look. It was the Belle Brezing look, a hard core brothel-girl look. It was a gymnastics leotard, but almost Victorian. And then we had these big studded bows and then the collage boots.
CHOPOVA LOWENA
BP I didn’t want to take it off. It was gorgeous. I loved the beading around the front with the rose and the way the shoulders fell. I loved having my cheeks out. And also moving in it, it makes you want to just…
EC Designing for movement doesn’t change our design process. We immediately had that look. We said,“We want Biig Piig to wear this,” but then it’s about how a performer responds to that. Sometimes it’s easy and they’re like, yeah, I get it. And sometimes they want something different and then we have to adapt, and we do, but we don’t ever design it differently. All we do is add a microphone pack usually, that’s about it.
BP Music and clothes are both part of your identity. It’s the way you approach the world and navigate it. I feel like music has always been something that makes the hard bits and the dull bits in life more exciting and more movable. And you create your own reality with it, which I love, and I think it’s the same in fashion. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like it’s that way that you go into the world you take it in and make it your own. It also comes back to the community. The way that I found music, it was always a thing of desperately trying to find a way out of a lonely place. I feel like music was my way back in and it’s not that you think about it when you’re doing it, but it just naturally progresses like that and suddenly you’re in a room full of people who are also feeling the same way or want to connect. I think art in general does that to you.
EC That was so beautifully said. We feel exactly the same.
CHOPOVA LOWENA
BP As for how fashion inspires my music, I think it comes back to different eras of making music and my journey to finding my personal style. When I’m thinking about shows and what I want to wear live, it’s a big thing, the way that I express myself on stage and how I want to perform.
EC I know a lot of brands are big on celebrities and who they want to dress, but we just want to dress who we like. Music feels like such a big part of our world and our day-to-day life. We connect a lot to musicians andI feel like we’re also stuck at this – in a good way – at this young age, visually, aesthetically, mentally, of loving music, being obsessed with that culture of bands and artists. I think that’s why we love dressing musicians.It’s just the most amazing thing to see people we love perform in the clothes.
BP You look through history and at how much certain brands linked up with similar musicians. It’s really cool just to see the fusion of the two things, and there are a lot of artists right now that I would say it makes sense with.
EC That’s the perfect way to say it, because that’s exactly what it is. It’s such a big part of culture when very iconic brands have been side by side with very iconic bands and artists.
LLI It’s also just nice to dress people who are creative and that you have a connection with.
BP I love that you guys care about that as well, because you get to build a community.
LLI It’s also the way you wear it and the way you perform in it. It makes us have ideas about how to create other clothes that are fun to perform in. It’s inspiring for us.
Biig Piig’s debut album ‘11:11’ is out now.
CHOPOVA LOWENA
Taken from 10 Magazine Issue 74 – MUSIC, TALENT, CREATIVE – on newsstands now. Order your copy here.
FAVOURITE GIRL
Photographer HARRIET MACSWEEN
Fashion Editor SIMONE BEYENE
Talent BIIG PIIG
Hair SOLOMAN PARAMOUR using SWCHARKOPF Professional
Make-up GEORGIA HOPE using DANESSA MYRICKS and SUNDAY RILEY
Manicurist SASHA GODDARD at Saint Luke using DIOR Manicure collection, Le Baume and Vernis
Digital operator AURELIE LAGOUTTE
Photographer’s assistant CHARLOTTE HARTLEY
Fashion assistants BRIANNA DENNIS and FREYA GOODCHILD-BRIDGE
Make-up assistant HANNAH BUSST
Production SONYA MAZURYK
Retouching KURT ANGUS
Special thanks to LILY BATTEN
Clothing, shoes and accessories throughout by CHOPOVA LOWENA SS25
