Designs bridge art and fashion

MELİS ALPHAN ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Young designer Nevra Karaca’s designs garner interest from buyers and the press, winning high praise. The media considers her work an ideal example of design, bridging the gaps between sculpture, art and fashion.

Lately Turkish designers and their collections have become quite popular abroad and without a doubt Nevra Karaca is one of the most prominent new Turkish talents to hit the international fashion runway.
Born in Istanbul in 1980, Karaca majored in textile design at Marmara University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. During her university years she acted as a costume designer for documentaries and commercial videos promoting Turkey. In 2003, she came in third at the Young Fashion Designers competition organized by Istanbul Textile Apparel Exporters (ITAE). While earning her MBA degree at Milan’s Domus Academy, which she attended with the support of ITAE, she prepared collections for worldwide brands including Antanio Berardi, Nike, Meltinpot, Bulgari. Additionally, she attended the Bread and Butter fair in Spain with her denim and knit collections under Taypa Textile’s sponsorship. She also had the opportunity to showcase her designs in GDS Dusseldorf and Istanbul Fashion Week.

In November, Karaca showcased the Spring/Summer 2012 collection of her designer brand Nevra Karaca No7 in Paris. Her designs have garnered interest from buyers and press, winning high praises. Parisian fashion professionals were mesmerized by the perfection and visual harmony of her designs. The media considered Karaca’s work an ideal example of design bridging the gaps between sculpture, art and fashion.

The collection is based primarily on the story of the Sutherland Sisters, who became legendary icons of popular culture due to their floor-length hair in the 1800s. Patterns and details in the collection refer to the extraordinary hair of the sisters, whereas the sculptural forms of the garments emphasize the fashion-art collaboration. Black and white dominated palette of the collection differentiates with touches of blue and green.

3-D effect
The high quality of the materials and the cuts of the designs polish off the collection, which consists of pieces telling the story perfectly. Skirts with 3D, geometric forms in immaculate symmetry are combined with asymmetric collar, sleeveless tops. The collection not only encompasses the pieces with 3D-effect, but also hair printed simple tops and denim pieces.

Karaca’s upcoming collection Fall/Winter 2012-2013 will also be a continuation of the story of Sutherland Sisters, based on the answer to the question “What if these sisters lived in the future?”
The colors used in this collection are mainly purple, black, grey, navy and white, whereas the fabrics are felt, lycra, laminated satin, wool, synthetic leather and tulle.

It is not hard to guess that again 3D designs will be the highlights of the collection, which requires extremely hard work during the production process.

Fall/Winter 2012-2013 Nevra Karaca No7 continues to get attention abroad even though it is the second season of the brand. Spring/Summer 2012 pieces were used in the editions of Vogue Italia and some pieces of the collection were showcased in a showroom in China, which again aroused international buyer’s interest.

Karaca has been preparing special collections for global brands such as Marks&Spencer, Next, Debenhams, Peruna and H&M through Taypa Textile since 2004 and through NVR (under the sponsorship of Taypa Textile) since 2007. With the support of the same company, she continues her journey through her designer brand Nevra Karaca No7, to bring fashion and art together in a unique way.