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Bahar Korçan Istanbul
IN THE PROGRAMME NOTES for her fall
2004 collection presentation at Bryant Park, Bahar Korçan
asks us to embrace the ‘rootless-ness’ that is often so prevalent
in fashion, as well as in our lives. We should ‘cling to it, hold
on’ because when we are rooted to any one place, ‘you are still
and small, [and] don’t belong.’ This is a philosophy that she practises
in the process of creating her designs. Her collections, since 1992,
have been inspired by the ‘thousands of stories hidden under every
stone [she] step on [in Istanbul and] the magic within this city
and Turkey.’ But at the same time, she designs ‘for women all over
the world.’ As such, one is able to discern the cultural references
of her native land but still embrace the international flavour of
the overall collection.
A harmonious coming together of skill, fine textures
and technology, Ms Korçan sent down her runway designs that
were at once beautiful, timeless creations a woman would be proud
to have in her wardrobe for many seasons over. The severity of her
pitch black cashmere coats was broken up by the addition of tulle
hems. She adorned various silk dresses with Antep lace insets; and
won me over with designs that were feminine but made a strong statement
about her vision. Stand-out pieces (and personal favourites) include
her black wool beaded dress paired with a cashmere coat with tulle
hem, her soft pink silk skirt (with tulle and white wool cardigan
under a short powder pink cashmere coat, a lovely ecru wool slip
dress under a equally lovely powder pink jacquard leaf print coat
and her ecru mini dress with front tulle detailing. For evening,
her designs were reminiscent of the strong design vision Ralph Rucci
imbues into his own designs. I loved her long cream monk coats with
decorative pleating on the sleeves and voile detailing on the neck.
Her hand-woven silk gowns had the right amount of everything to
make them stand out from the rest of the collection. She never crossed
the line in doing too much to any one design. She always knew when
she had done her best and when to let go. That is a good thing.
Based in Turkey, Ms Korçan’s collection
is sold in over 170 retail and specialty stores around the world.
She was the first Turkish designer to win the Du Pont Winter 2000–1
Premier Vision competition in Paris, and has exhibited in cities
such as Düsseldorf and New York.
CONTINUED
Ms Korçan sent down her runway
designs that were at once beautiful, timeless creations a woman
would be proud to have in her wardrobe for many seasons over
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