Special touch on taste and place

MELİS ALPHAN ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

For the first time in the history of the Istanbul Fashion Week, the tent will be in the hands of an architect.

Istanbul Fashion Week (IFW), to be held Feb. 8 to 11, will let Turkish designers as well as brands showcase their work once again. As always, there will also be a lot going on off stage and backstage as well as the catwalk.

Sense of Taste catering services, which has previously provided services for TV celebrities, superstars and statesmen such as Nelson Mandela, Beyonce, Jay-Z and the Kardashian family, is set to create a special menu prepared by Chef Joshua Cohen with the philosophy of “healthy taste.”

Sense of Taste will provide services backstage to international standards, with filling, high-fiber recipes providing for daily calorie needs for models who sometimes take part in as many as five shows every day.

Wild rice pilaf and sautéed vegetable salad; fettuccine with low-fat mozzarella, mushroom and tomato sauce; broccoli roasted with soy and sesame oil; marinated fat-free grilled chicken breast, roasted red pepper, Thai noodles, tofu mixed vegetables and fruit salads will be prepared fresh every day for the models.

All meals will be cooked using only olive and sunflower oils. Pan and deep frying of all items has been eliminated, with Sense of Taste choosing to use only the healthiest cooking techniques such as steaming, poaching, braising and baking. Staff will also control the portion sizes of each meal to keep in line with the calorie content.

Turkish cuisine

Sense of Taste also aims to provide “the most loved” dishes of Turkish cuisine to boost the performance and strength of other backstage staff. It will provide vegetable soup and fresh fruits for those who miss meals in the hectic backstage environment.

The tent hosting the fashion shows is to be put up in Beyoğlul. For the first time in the event’s history, the tent will be in the hands of an architect. Leyla Gök, who decorated the tent, said her priority was to create a place both practical and pleasing to the eye. Since the tent is made of white canvas, white wood has been used to match. Gök wants the heart of Istanbul to beat in this tent, so she has tried to add energy to it with color and animation.

“We studied the details of all fashion weeks, especially in Europe. Yet, function, demand and concept shaped the composition of the place more than inspiration when forming the idea,” said Gök.

Inside the tent, there is a cloakroom and a bar section, comfortable sitting areas where the guests can listen to the DJ. There will be a live DJ performance all day long, which is a first in the event’s history.
There are also various sponsor stands, a VIP lounge section and a press lounge in the tent.


The runway tent is 40 meters long, the lounge tent is 40 meters long and the kitchen tent annexed to the bar section is 8 meters long.

Each place has a story in relation with its surroundings.