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EMINE ERGÜL BEFORE MFW: I will present myself with the collection inspired by Ottoman Empire
Emine Ergul
Turkish designer Emine Ergül is coming to our country for the first time to the invitation of ,,Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – Podgorica“ and Turkish Embassy in Podgorica. She will present her collection at Mercedes-Benz Montenegro Fashion Week on April 19th at ,,Capital Plaza”. The visitors will be able to see beautiful line of 22 pieces of costumes from Ottoman Empire.
She talks to Montenegro magazin about herself and her work, inspiration, Turkish fashion scene, collaboration between ,,Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – Podgorica“ and much more.
,,Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – Podgorica“ and Turkish Embassy in Podgorica have invited you to show your collection at Montenegro Fashion Week. How did it come to such collaboration?
– We first met ,,Yunus Emre Enstitüsü“ four years ago. They were investigating the institutions working in the field of Traditional Turkish Clothing and Handicrafts and reached us.
We represented our country at the 5th International Fashion and Stage Festival in Astana-Kazakhistan with ,,Ottoman and Needle Lace Collection“, ,,Sultan Costumes Collection“ in Romania-Kostenice, ,,Sultan Costumes Collection“ in Hungary-Budapest due to the anniversary of the death of Süleyman the Magnificent in collaboration with the ,,Yunus Emre Enstitüsü“ and our cooperation continues with mutual satisfaction.
It is your first time in Montenegro. Can you tell us about the collection you will be showing, materials and colours, as well as the inspiration for it?
– We will present 22 pieces of costumes from Ottoman Empire to present Turkish Women's Clothing Fashion Show. The costumes were inspired by Ottoman Sultan, prince and odalisque clothes and adorned with needle lace and scarlet beads. The clothes of the six sultans who lived in Bursa were researched and reproduced (Osmangazi, Orhangazi, Murat I, Yıldırım Beyazıt, Çelebi Mehmet, Murat II).Odalisque clothes were designed as exact copy or modernized. Moreover, during designing clothes, we were inspired by motifs and designs used in Turkish Tradition and Culture, colors, decoration techniques, fabrics.
How well do you know Montenegrin fashion scene?
– Obviously I didn't know anything about this event before this invitation. I researched on the internet. I learned that it is an international fashion event, different brands and designers of many countries present their designs here, important and big organization.
Can you tell our readers more about you and your work, please?
– First I would like to introduce my institution. Bursa Olgunlaşma Enstitüsü is one of the 18 institutes established around the country to protect Turkish Clothing and Handicrafts and convey them to future generations in 1996 under the Ministry of National Education – General Directorate of Lifelong Learning. The Institute introduces Turkish Clothing, Handicrafts and Turkish Culture with national and international fashion shows and exhibitions by transforming their designs into creations in accordance with the determined themes. It is an educational institution that provides artistic education and its instructors and employees are experts in their own artistic areas.
I had worked as a teacher 10 years in the field related schools after completing the university education in the fashion and design sector and I had worked in Bursa Olgunlaşma Enstitüsü Design Workshops 3 years and then I have been a Deputy Director for 6 years.
Knowing Turkey's rich history, culture, therefore, colours, patterns, materials, textile, how much is Turkey an inspiration for the designer like you?
– Our institution, which is in charge of transferring cultural values and traditional handicrafts of Turkish Culture, Bursa and its environs to future generations by researching and developing, carries out design and production studies in accordance with the determined theme every year. The weaves of Bursa-Keles, the silk of Bursa, Silkworm Cocoon Works, Needle Lace, the bride's bath of Bursa, traditional Anatolian motifs, Iznik pottery motifs, lines and colors are also important sources of inspiration in our designs. We can even say that it forms the basis of our inspiration.
How do you see fashion scene in the world today? Where is Turkey on that fashion map, because I see that they are becoming more recognizable year after year, so I wanted to see your point of view on that?
– In recent years, with the rapid and easy production in the fashion sector, a new trend has started to emerge in almost every year and every season with the rapidly changing fashion industry. With the effect of the increase and diversity of the human population, there are many different clothing styles in the expanding fashion sector.
We can say that the textile industry in Turkey is highly developed. Our country is one of the leading countries in the field of textiles and garments and has the factories and businesses that produce with the latest technology. Our knowledge, experience and human power accumulated since years in this field are among our most important advantages. In recent years, Turkey has become a country that produces textiles as well as trying to enter into countries that are shaping this image further and shaping fashion. For this purpose, there are many fashion-related breakthroughs, especially in education. Even if it is a work designed in cloth, the fabric alone does not have an aesthetic meaning and it needs talented hands of fashion genius. Those colorful and different kinds of fabrics are transformed into clothes with an artistic touch.
Major fashion designers who have shaped Turkish fashion such as Atıl Kutoğlu, Arzu Kaprol, Bahar Korçan, Cengiz Abazoğlu, Dilek Hanif, Gamze Saraçoğlu, Erdem Moralıoğlu, Hakan Yıldırım, Hakan Akkaya, Hatice Gökçe, Hüseyin Çağlayan and Yıldırım Mayruk are now starting to be recognized worldly.
Our institution is doing its duty to contribute to our country in the field of fashion by making research, development, evaluation, archiving and production studies in the field of Traditional Turkish Clothing and Handicrafts which are our cultural values.
Bojana Radonjić
Photo: Private archive
