Fashion icon
In an unexpected blow to the Adelaide-based womenswear designer, Georgiou's entire 2007 collection was brazenly stolen from his flagship boutique in Malvern early last month.
Taking off with some $150,000 worth of high-end glamourwear, Georgiou said the callous robbers have left him and his team "ill" and "emotionally grieving".
"After all these years of paying off business loans and getting to a place where our loans are manageable, we now have to borrow again to get back on track.
"My wife Pat and I were thinking about slowing down just a little but that plan has now gone out of the window."
A total of 127 items were stripped from their racks on an early morning last month, including a series of specially crafted dresses for the upcoming Logie Awards in April. Georgiou said that along with an inevitable loss in sales, a missed opportunity for media attention would further add salt to his wounds.
"Many items were one-off pieces and irreplaceable. Sometimes the base cloth is so heavily detailed by us that the staff and I are experiencing the loss in an emotional way."
Although the designer said he equipped the store with a state-of-the-art alarm system, it failed to go off when robbers entered the building and only sounded once he and police arrived on the scene.
In a move which has added to Georgiou's growing frustration, the alarm company has refused to accept any responsibility for damages caused.
"They said if the robbers were professional and wore wetsuits or heavy clothing, they could have entered and cloaked the sensor with some cardboard so they were not detected," an emotional Georgiou said. "I don't believe this explanation."
Still struggling to recoup his financial losses, Georgiou has advised fellow designers to invest in preventative measures such as insurance, cameras and security grills. He said that "even a small amount of insurance" would have made his burden easier to bear.
"I always felt burglary insurance was too expensive but if you consider the ongoing implication of a robbery like this, it's not just the stock you lose."
Georgiou has offered a reward for the return of all stolen items.