After IFW, A Critical Approach

Honestly, I am a little disappointed by the IFW this year. I know that the general rhetoric about the fashion week is all too positive, as everyone constantly argues what a huge step it is for the fashion industry in Turkey. However, it should be marked that IFW is not a natural outflow of a improvement within our fashion culture, instead it is more of an artificially imposed week that is tried to be maintained each year, for the belief that someday Istanbul will be the new centre of fashion, much like its counterparts such as Milano, New York or Paris.

Even though Istnabul is drastically distant from these cities' heritage of fashion, it does not necessarily mean that Istanbul will never get there. However, in achieving this overly ambitious goal, there is a lot of responsibilty lying on the shoulders of Turkish designers. This is the time that our designers should realize that they are more than tailors with a glimse of an eye for this stuff, but instead they should force themselves to be real artists. We do not have fashion geniuses yet, no Gallianos, no Lagerfelds obviously; but if we ever want to get there, we should stop being too cautious, even maybe too wearable and start to pursue sophistication from a bolder perspective. If the aim is to make Turkish fashion a brand, then it is not just to only feel honored when Hakaan wins the ANDAM or Hussein Chalayan opens his retrospective exhibition. The issue is making it a whole. And I know, sincerely, that this is not an easy goal.

Turkish fashion can never be truly repudiated unless it starts to put on real shows, not some simplistic runways. Fashion show is not simply tailoring some clothes and showing them to potential customers, it is about following an ideal. An ideal that should be worked upon so meticulously that when a show is on, its music, atmosphere, its models, the mood of its models should all be coherent to follow a certain theme. I am not talking about naming the shows. It is so easy to do it. Instead, designers should run after more, should push themselves more and more importantly divorce themselves from all sorts of sales anxities. Sales is the business of others, the professionals that they hire for this specific job. Designers should only exist with their artistic stance. Nothing more, nothing less.

This is the reason that I am disappointed with this years Istanbul Fashion Week. Because I feel like there is no huge step taken forward. It is a dublication or a modified version of designers' previous collection. Bringing famous models or foreign Vogue editors is not the answer. The real focus should be on the fashion week itself instead of some model. After the event established itself fully and successfully, blogger and editors will pour in the doors by themselves. The issue is making a brand out of Istanbul and this year did not add much to last year. Unfortunately that made me suspicious of next year's glory.

I hope next year's IFW will prove me wrong...

What this year's IFW is going to look like.

I am terribly sorry for such a huge gap in between my entries. Nonetheless, here I am, back and ready once and for all. Now that the biggest event of Turkish fashion is approaching (precisely 3 days left), it is now the most appropriate time to take an all encompassing journey about what "Istanbul Fashion Week" is and what awaits us for this year. Now that all the designers are extremely enthusiastic about their shows, let's trace some of the clues they left so to guess even for a bit what this year's event's going to look like.

Here's the program of this year:

Atıl Kutoglu hasn't been presenting any new collections for quite some time now, so his runway will be a matter of curiousity for many. For the closure of day 1, Bora Aksu will be showing what he's got. He is already a well established designer in London, as he repeatedly participated in London Fashion Week, yet he says he is inpired by Istanbul for this very collection. It will be our pleasure to have our world renowned designer in his homeland.

This year's Karma show is also a very strong one. Gül Ağış is slowly making her way up, while Zeynep Tosun and Zeynep Erdoğan have started to win themselves a place in Turkish fashion. I am mostly curious about whether they have managed to take a step further since the last IFW and develop a style that is a bit more elegant and mature to enable them to play in the major's league. Simay Bülbül will be there, I suppose again with a spiritual headline and a collection created around it. Arzu Kaprol will be concluding the night, hopefully with her characteristic elegance and a glimse of a new theme, much like her previous themes of ecology or futurism.

On the following day, an often visitor of our blog, Rana Berna Canok sisters will be in the Karma show once more, allegedly with their sculpture like figures. Following that, Özgür Masur, who participated in a karma show last year, will be performing on his own this time. A big thrill not only for him, but for all of his followers and anyone interested in Turkish fashion really. We'll see if he could put upon what he has been building up for a year. Bahar Korçan will be showing off with her collection she named "Listen". As though it has been ages now that she is in fashion industry, she is still a bit of an experimental kind. So it's going to be interesting.

On the final day, Gamze Saraçoğlu will be pumping adrenalin in backstage, followed by Özlem Süer, now a popular face for the fashionista.

So, let's see what this IFW brings about...

Istanbul Fashion Week'e Kimler Geliyor? / Who comes to Istanbul Fashion Week?

İstanbul Fashion Week'e (IFW) katılacak isimler açıklandı! Etkinlik 25-28 Ağustos arasında yapılacak ve 2 tanesi karma olmak üzere toplam 14 defileden oluşacak.

Solo defile listesi alışık olduğumuz isimlerle dolu. Bunlar: Arzu Kaprol, Atıl Kutoğlu, Bahar Korçan, Deniz Mercan, Gamze Saraçoğlu, Hatice Gökçe, Mehtap Elaidi, Özlem Süer gibi isimler. Ne yazık ki yurtdışında Türk tasarımını en iyi şekilde temsil eden Bora Aksu, Dice Kayek ve Hakan Yıldırım listede yoklar.

Önemli bir haber ise, önceden karma defilelerle tasarımlarını sergileyen isimlerin bu yıl solo defile yapmaya hak kazanması. Bunlar da: Günseli Türkay, Özgür Masur, Özlem Kaya ve Simal Bülbül.

Karma defilelerde ise yer alacak isimler şöyle: Gül Ağış, Zeynep Erdoğan, Zeynep Tosun gibi gedikliler ve ilk kez IFW'de koleksiyonlarını sergileyecek olan Niyazi Erdoğan, Tuvana Büyükçınar, Rana-Berna Canok ve Nejla Güvenç.

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Designers to participate in Istanbul Fashion Week (IFW) are announced! The event will take place between 25-28 August, in which there will be a total of 14 runways, including 2 joint fashion shows.

Solo shows consist of familiar names such as Arzu Kaprol, Atıl Kutoğlu, Bahar Korçan, Deniz Mercan, Gamze Saraçoğlu, Hatice Gökçe, Mehtap Elaidi, and Özlem Süer. Unfortunaltely the most internationally well known designers including Bora Aksu, Dice Kayek and Hakan Yıldırım (Hakaan) will not be participating this time.

Another important note is that, designers who were previously on joint runways now qualified to have their own solo shows. These are: Günseli Türkay, Özgür Masur, Özlem Kaya and Simal Bülbül.

Joint fashion shows include Gül Ağış, Zeynep Erdoğan, Zeynep Tosun who have already done a joint show for IFW before and some newcomers: Niyazi Erdoğan, Tuvana Büyükçınar, Rana-Berna Canok and Nejla Güvenç.