For our first Sleek x Istanbul’74 collaboration, we visit Turkish born and Turkey and New York-based fashion designer, Asli Filinta: a storyteller with her feet on the ground and her head in the sky. With her collections, Filinta tells us stories of wings and towers, architecture, paint, flowers, patterns, numbers, heroes, love and wine. While her inspiration stems from a whimsical mind and a curious soul, her feathered tailoring and structured dresses – though always with a twist – are still down to earth.
Filinta observes her own culture and history: a love story between Architect Mimar Sinan and Mihrimah Sultan (the daughter of Suleyman the Magnificent), a pattern on a mosque’s ceiling. Taking inspiration from the Turkish painter Fikret Mualla’s mosque artwork, Filinta transforms a dark story about alcohol addiction into colourful renderings and patterns, resulting in a casual and playful, yet powerful and unique style.
After graduating from Parsons in 2008, Filinta was invited to design a mini-collection for Target for SS 2009 season and was immediately lauded by Daily-Candy as a genuine and unique designer, and dubbed “the next big thing” among young international designers. In 2009, she won the Young Designers Fashion Award of Who’s Next organisation of Paris. After her second collection, she caught the eye of Vogue Nippon and was invited to present her collection at Comme Des Garcon’s pop up store at Dover Street Aoyama, alongside super-brands like Chanel, Dior, Celine, Lanvin, Martin Margiela, and more. Announced as the “young talent for joining Turkish tradition with global fashion awareness at WWD”, she was invited to exhibit at Joyce Gallery, Palais Royal in Paris. With these achievements under her belt, the brand of Asli Filinta can now be found in numerous multibrand and concept stores worldwide.
As part of a special collaboration, Sleek has teamed up with Istanbul’74 to bring you exclusive Studio Visit’s directly from the heart of Turkey’s thriving art and fashion community. For each new issue of Sleek there will be a new studio visit from the Turkish capital curated by Istanbul’74, giving readers the chance to see what happens behind the closed doors of an artist’s studio.