Born in Istanbul, to a family with traditional Turkish values, designer Dilara Findikoglu is a rule breaker who separates herself from a world saturated by sameness. One of her many rebellion acts worth nothing was last spring when she helped stage #encoreCSM, the guerrilla show she and a handful of other young designers staged during their third year at Central Saint Martin and weren’t accepted to the school’s official press show. Findikoglu took their own presentation outside, showing their collections that gathered just as much press. This idea of rebellion in these increasingly safe, circumspect times is stitched into the very fabric of Findikoglu’s collections. Fraying ivory suits to sharply tailored pants with eccentric blood red details and snakeskin, to Turkish patterned rug coats with stitched metallic sleeves and rock’n’roll motifs across the back. Even the women who inspire her, Queen Elizabeth I to Marlene Dietrich, are the ideals of power and non conformity.
As Dilara currently works towards showing her forthcoming collection (check out her Instagram for teasers) as well as launching a capsule line for Selfridges, it’s safe to say we can expect big things to come.
Photos by Vinca Petersen and Stas Kalashnikov
By Cheyenne Tulsa
