Throngs of champagne, wine, a varied array of canapes, meze, baklava and sea spray will cease tomorrow and I'll need to show something other than an engorged gut. It has to be said that Istanbul's complex DNA in ALL respects has made the fashion scene here harder to crack, analyse and dissect than other cities. For a start, Istanbul Fashion Week in its organised entirity is only in its THIRD season and that beyond the schedule, you get the feeling there's FAR more to be discovered in the local fashion design scene. One that's sadly not going to get explored by incompetent me. I've got one more day... and my fingers are still crossed though.
Still, if from the shows, I take nothing away but the name Zeynep Tosun, then I'm leaving Istanbul as someone who's been fashion-sated. Whilst being sea-sprayed on a Bosphorus cruise today, several other international editors/journos were also raving about her which should give Tosun an international boost. I can't gather too much information on the designer herself but seeing as her collection was shown as part of a group show, I think she's a fairly young designer. Actually I can only really dig information on her via Facebook page. I'll take it though.
Afterall, all I really need to know is that what I saw had a spark to it. A reader who spoke of cultural appropriation in fashion and that it really needed to haveseveral degrees of abstraction to it and this has seemingly stuck with me the past few weeks through my travels. What of course I forgot to say/mention on that cultural appropriation in fashion post is that when you're inspired by your own culture/ethnicity/surroundings/heritage, onlookers definitely feel that extra sense of attachment/connection between designer and collection, that personal tie making the clothes seem more poignant. Tosun has therefore ticked both these boxes. I can't EXACTLY articulate her influences because only she can be specific about what she did, but loosely, I'm able to draw parallels between the colours and familiar motifs that are rife in Istanbul to elements of the collection, thanks to the amount of sightseeing I've done these past few days.
(Textiles hanging outside the Blue Mosque, paint pigments in some hardware stall-selling street, one of the rooms in the harem in Topkapi Palace)
On top of the obvious colours, the floral embroidery, the choice of fabrics though is Tosun's own sensibility towards the notion of 'undone'. The shirt dress that is unbuttoned down the front. The sheer qualities of a negligee. The exposure of certain areas. This is physically interpreted through different variations on the shirt dresses, shirt-front robes and button down skirts that are cut-into strategically with slits and plenty of peekaboo areas. Sexy and mumsy roll into Tosun's collection in similar ways that definitely is rooted into Miuccia Prada's design ideology. High waisted knickers, sharply cut bustiers, sheer fabrics, emphasis on wee ankles and wrists as well as the exposed shoulder all tug and pull with the almost mormon-esque ribbons in the hair, the clunky tassels on a heavy cape, floral embroidery and patterns and the mid-calf lengths. Makes me almost want to have a go at slitting away at some of my high-necked vintage tea dresses to see what conceal/reveal results I can get...
The path from her last A/W 10-11 collection to the one just shown above isn't inconceivable with the cut-out soft tailoring already beginning to take hold. Again, I may be wrong about Istanbul's make-up influencing elements of the collection above, and if so, then I applaud the connection even more. Istanbul's celebration of its current cultural city status may or may not have have impacted on Tosun and her work but the important thing was the subtlety in the resulting collection.
Her A/W 10-11 collection:
