“It’s a struggle everyday because you have to make it work,” said Burç Akyol backstage after his spring 2025 show.
His comment could have applied to running an independent fashion label but what he was talking about was relationships, with his recent civil union with his partner of 11 years top of mind.
“It’s that stretchy, jerky relationship that you have with everything you love,” he continued. “What we are doing every day is a beautiful moment of connection.”
In the show notes, Akyol expanded on the parallel between fashion and commitment, alighting on turning pain or disappointment into fuel for evolution. But this was no maudlin musing: the designer has shown time and again that he is an optimist.
From the idea of a constant push-and-pull sprang an elegant lineup that navigated the familiar-to-him territory between masculine and feminine. Akyol employed his dab hand at tailoring to great effect.
On a tuxedo jacket, he did away with its lapels to create a deep V-neck, while lightly cinching the waist and flaring the hips. Iterations in various lengths — and even versions in denim and leather — proved equally handsome on men and women.
Applying the same method to filmy, sinuous gowns worked equally well, telegraphing a Timothée Chalamet-like fluidity on male models.
In fact, it wasn’t the original item that tipped the perception toward one gender or the other, regardless of the lengths and fabrications their iterations came in. It was the sheerness of trouser shorts or how much drape was given to harem-style pants that did.
It drove Akyol’s point home that while many things can be a matter of perception, a skillfully executed garment works for everyone.