The relevant abstract she designs around and the way she makes her clothes outstanding render Nihan Peker remarkable
At the very begining of his career, after some education in Milan, London and New York Ümit Benan had stopped in İstanbul to give it a try. He stayed over a year, worked for some well-known companies and then had decided that to be a branded designer in İstanbul is exremely challenging. So he moved back to New York. You may google for the rest of the story, if you havent heard of him yet...
His withdrawal creates a question mark about how the fashion business works in İstanbul. In an interview, he said "In Turkey, companies see designers as any other ordinary workers, not a creative force behind the brand. I just couldn't see a future for myself"
It's common that coming up design students who fancy about the glamorous catwalks and a big branded name like Prada or Christian Dior disappoint after the graduation when they see not that fancy side of the business. While most of the newly-grad designers enter into big brands, a few of them choose a more challenging path: To go his/her own way.
The negative attitude gets even harder to stand without a sustained financial support. To find the right tailors and patternmakers or ateliers that understand your demands, the right contacts that let you showcase or sell your products... At the middle of all these challenges It turns into a tedious journey.
Therefore when we witness a creative talent blossoms we should hail, at least, his/her courage. And if this person, like Nihan Peker, has a story to tell without comprimising all the seem-to-be hard to swallow details for the demand of superfiacial populist eyes we should claim his/her thriving existance.
This year, after her fashion design master at Istituto Marangoni, Nihan Peker is back from Italy. Her second ready-to-wear collection is on sale, now at a concept boutique named Laudromat.
She named her last collection as "Uyandırma Ayini" (wake-up ritual). This name is part of a whole consept she keeps to go on all through her previous collections named, orderly, "Palyaçolar" (the clowns), "Semazenler" (whirling sufi derwishes), "Paradoks" (the paradox) and "Hamal" (street porter). She explains that the culture she comes from is her main inspiration. All these names are the words which haunted her during the research for the right fabrics.
She declares that her designs are her self-expression. the clothes are basicly affected by her inner world (paradoxical, sort of depressive, monochrome (mostly white) with lots of strings...) rather than global trends. She defines her clothes experimental but she also wants to stay casually wearable.
As the economy recovers a new demand is emerging for the sophisticated brands. Before the crisis it was all about logos, shiny patterns, brands who talks aloud on behalf of their customers. And now, after a short back-to-basics movement, cutomers once again want brands say something on behalf of the wearer, but this time in elegance.
That's because Nihan Peker's plain but outstanding clothes, all above the global trends, clarifies post-crisis zeitgeist: recognizable desings without any logo.
Uyandırma Ayini:
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