(Paris) Two places, two atmospheres: the Franco-Turkish Burc Akyol delivered a parade of “magic with little” means downstairs from his home in Paris, a few hours before the gigantic parade of Pharrell Williams for Vuitton, on the first day of Men’s Fashion Week on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old stylist enters the official calendar with a lot of creativity, to compensate for a modest budget, and a unique look between East and West that has seduced celebrities as different as Cate Blanchett, Cardi B, Kendall Jenner or Isabelle Huppert.
Under the eyes of his neighbors, between golden palm trees, professional models and friends of the designer trod on Tuesday a sand-colored carpet laid in the courtyard of his building, where he had already organized his previous fashion shows.
“I find it important to bring my guests to my place, it feels very “home”. We’re in the 8th arrondissement, there’s the fashion house side,” he points out, completing the final preparations in his apartment which serves as his studio and where his only private space is the cluttered bedroom. of bosses.
“It’s great that Vuitton is doing this huge show. We’re not Vuitton, but that’s okay, maybe we will be one day,” he added to AFP.
Thus we will see “the two facets” of the Parisian fashion scene, between the big institutional houses and “we who manage to do magic with very little”.
Anyone who, as a teenager, dressed in women’s pants, because he was very thin, is convinced that “clothing has no gender”.
So he presents a gender-neutral collection at the men’s week because it’s easier to get noticed that way and the timing is better for sales.
He tries on all the prototypes himself, including the bras. If he is well in the mirror, he keeps them.
One of the collection’s signature dresses is made in “all-black, plain, sleepy lace” in stock. “We just put gold threads in it so we could make it something special and give it a second life.”
Transparent with an integrated thong, it is worn by a model with curves that we are not used to seeing on the catwalks, especially to present this kind of silhouette.
Like the previous season, the designer does a “burqa” look (a pun on her first name), mostly to “raise the issue” of women’s rights.
The transparent veil built into the cap covers the body from head to toe, with tights as the only piece underneath.
Last season, he made a hair skirt to denounce the repression of women in Iran.
“I have sisters, I want them to have a fulfilled sex life, to be feminine, I want them to have sovereignty over their bodies,” says Burc Akyol.
For him who likes slits and transparencies, those who hide the body “in design are in denial of the body”.
Austere and sexy, elegant and sensual, her outfits reflect her identity.
“I was born in France with Turkish parents. Once out of my parents’ apartment, I became French because I had to be French and, when I got home, I ate like a Turk, I lived like a Turk”.
The son of a tailor, he grew up in public housing in Dreux, an hour from Paris, with “many immigrants”. “We had a desire for beauty,” recalls Burc Akyol.
He learned to sew at home, where the whole family “patched up clothes on Saturday nights while watching TV.” He also acquired a taste for fashion by watching fashion shows on television.
However, he now says he is happy that everything is happening on YouTube and social networks, which is conducive for young talents, who are “no longer forced to depend on the big media”.
