When Sofia Michaelides was 12, she inherited a family heirloom that changed her life.
After traveling to Greece to see family, her father brought Michaelides a gift, or as she came to see it: a portal to another time. It was a collection of antique, turn-of-the-century garments that had previously been given as dowry items to her family in Greece and China in the early 1900s. As the only person in her family interested in fashion (childhood pictures of her favorite outfit, a floral jumper over top a vegetable-patterned turtleneck, back this up), Michaelides was first in line to inherit her grandmother and great-grandmother’s silk robes, dresses, and kimonos.
From that moment, she “became totally obsessed” with historical clothing, she said.
Now, 16 years later, Michaelides, 28, is the founder of Demetra Vintage, a Rhode Island-based design and clothing restoration business. Michaelides and her team specialize in restoring historical garments from the Victorian era through the 1970s, anything from bridal gowns to boned corsets and blazers. She sells her pieces from her Pawtucket showroom online, and at vintage markets and showcases across New England and New York.
Restoring vintage garments “started from a place of necessity,” Michaelides said. She grew up in Houston, where she began to mend thrifted clothing while she was in high school. By age 16, she was reselling the mended garments: “I didn’t have a lot of money and the only way I could get good [clothes] was if I bought them damaged, to try and fix them myself.”
Michaelides moved to New England in 2015 to attend the Rhode Island School of Design to study apparel design and began working with older textiles to create historically inspired garments. In 2019, during her junior year, Michaelides took time off from school following the loss of a family member. In order to keep up with her craft, she began to sell vintage full time from Rhode Island; it was then that Demetra Vintage was born.
After sourcing an antique chiffon dress in dire condition, she color-matched vintage lace over a damaged portion of the skirt, giving it a new, period-authentic life.
“It was this gorgeous 1920s dress that would otherwise be useless,” she explained. " It was like, ‘Oh, like, I’m like, touching on something here.’ I don’t think a lot of people [are] doing that.”
“That time was a huge discovery period for me,” Michaelides added. She decided to extend her RISD leave to two years after that.
Her goal for Demetra Vintage going forward was not just to restore vintage garments to look great and historically accurate; she wants them to be wearable, functional clothing, too. She became a regular at antique markets across New England, began building her now-massive library of vintage materials, and integrated herself into the antique clothing community across the Northeast.
The restoration process begins with cleaning each garment, which she says is the ultimate test of its durability and state. Once a piece has been cleaned (without falling apart), the garment is assessed — does it need to be relined?, do spots need to be covered?, does lace need to be replaced?, etc. To tend to these flaws and damage, Michaelides dips into her archive of fabrics, laces, buttons, and furs collected from flea markets, antique sellers, and vintage expos. There is no set way to restore a garment, she said, as each requires its own degree of care and attention.
One of Michaelides’s current favorite garments and most extensive restorations is an Edwardian-era wedding gown that her colleague had found in a trash can and sold to her. She sewed up a rip in the back of the dress, reset the waistbands, and added new cuffs.
“We repaired everything,” she said proudly. “I‘m really hoping that someone will get married in it.”
Michaelides returned and graduated from RISD in 2022 and has since continued to grow Demetra Vintage full time. Her showroom collection currently includes more than 150 ready-to-be-worn garments, jewelry, and accessories for bridal, evening, and everyday wear. Items range from $40 to over $4,000, price based on the extent of the restoration needed and rarity.
Michealides recently launched her own label under the name Demetra Revival. The collection features her original, historically inspired designs featuring heirloom textiles and materials. Each is uniquely customized — from a 1930s crinkle silk floor-length gown, which she hand-repaired and added beaded bow-shaped embellishments, to a silver floral lamé halter gown featuring custom diamanté straps, to an emerald silk and velvet dress adorned with lingerie lace from the 1930s.
“I’m super passionate about bringing the old world beauty and handmade aspects into today,” she said.
Through the years at Demetra Vintage, Michaelides has built a devout customer base. Stephanie Swirsky, a copywriter and playwright in New York who collects wearable, antique clothing, has purchased “countless” garments from Michaelides.
“These pieces are really sturdy once she restores them,” Swirsky said. “I used to buy a lot of [new] designer pieces, and they were not holding up. … Vintage holds up better.”
Swirsky also cites the originality of her pieces from Demetra Vintage as what makes them so appealing. “It’s a totally unique outfit and way to express yourself. … You’re not going to walk out and see anyone else wearing [the same thing].”
This is something, Michaelides says, that sets her work apart from modern luxury items.
“My clients are captured by the fact that each piece has a story. They don’t want to just throw another Gucci thing in their closet that anyone could have,” she said. “I have shown them [my items] have an origin story and are one of a kind.”
Isabella Bernstein can be reached at isabella.bernstein@globe.com.