Istanbul Fashion Week proved a blur of parties, cutting-edge fashion and plenty of designer meetings — with a bit of Bosporus-side tippling to balance things out.

Here are some of our highlights from an incredible few days…

Wednesday: The opening party for Dicek Kayak’s exhibition at the Istanbul Modern Museum had the feel of a fashion world reunion. All of the major editors, creatives and buyers were there, air kissing and catching up about summer vacations. Fashion legends Anna Piaggi and Patricia Field, of Sex and the City fame, also attended. It was almost enough to make us forget to take in the exhibition, but what an exhibition it was! For the show, Dice Kayak had created a series of garments representing different parts of Istanbul. So the Istanbul Modern dress echoed the museum’s refined lines, while another dress named after the famous Topkapi Palace was covered in crystals. Meandering through the displays felt akin to a city tour in miniature. And, apropos to any fashionable city, there were even street photographers: Facehunter snapped one of our friends and posted the image straight onto his inspiring street style blog.

Thursday: We took a little break from all the shows with a fashion editor friend, escaping the crush at the tents for a glass of rose on the Bosporus-facing terrace at the Four Seasons. Over our drink, he told me about Gilan, a high-end jeweler who creates really spectacular designs.

From there, we headed back to the tents for Arzu Kaprol… along with absolutely everyone else — the place was heaving with people. Nobody wanted to miss this show. Arzu played with the ideas of construction and deconstruction in her designs. Her final dress resembled thousands of book pages in skirt form… you have to see it to understand! The buzz after show was tremendous. Stay tuned to see more of Arzu on Dia soon!

Friday: A lunchtime meeting with designer Mehtap Elaidi took us to Fashion Week’s VIP tents. After seeing her show on Thursday, we knew we had to meet her and discuss bringing her to Dia. Elaidi’s designs are very feminine, yet easy to wear — we can’t wait to introduce you to her goods!

For our last night in the city, we went out to dinner with the team from Vogue Turkey at a small, unnamed fish restaurant in an up-and-coming part of the city. Our tables were hanging over the Bosporus and everything was so fresh that it seemed the fish were leaping out of the sea and onto our paper plates. So tasty! We spent four hours at dinner, sharing stories about Istanbul, the fashion world and travels. The experience was completely consistent with Dia’s mission, and a brilliant coda to time well spent in the city.

That’s just a fraction of what we saw and did in Istanbul. With show season upon us, the Dia team will be traveling all month… look out for more updates!

Best,
Dia