Paper clothing received an award
Melisa Çeken, student at Department of Fashion and Textile Design, Izmir University of Economics (IUE), attracted the attention of the “Stylesight Spotlight” page with a paper dress she created by getting inspired by the rhododendron plant. Officials of “Stylesight Spotlight”, which has 144 thousand followers and gives news about the fashion industry on social media, liked the dress shared by Çeken on her own Instagram account and provided the young designer the opportunity to participate in the Fashion Revolution online certification program and sustainable fashion education in collaboration with Kering Group and London Fashion College.
Melisa Çeken (19), freshman at IUE Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Department of Fashion and Textile Design, said that with the pandemic, it is better understood that the world resources are being exhausted quickly and that she wants to work in the field of sustainable fashion against this.
I REVIEWED THOROUGHLY
Çeken stated that, before the pandemic, they started their spring semester projects as part of the “Art and Design Studio” course led by Asst. Prof. Dilek Himam Er and Research Asst. Elif Tekcan of IUE Department of Fashion and Textile Design. “Our project for this semester was about designing wearable dresses by combining a character we chose from Jorge Louis Borges' 'Book of Imaginary Beings' and a plant analysis we chose. I examined the imaginary character and plant that I chose from the book thoroughly. The purpose of our project was to make the character and plant we examined turn into 3 dimensional wearable designs with works such as texture, material, pattern,” said Çeken.
I WAS BOTH SURPRISED AND HAPPY
Çeken, who stated that she preferred the 9-tailed fox and the rhododendron plant from Borges’ book in her design, said that the character and the elegant forms in the plant affected her very much. Çeken stated the following: “We did not leave our house during the pandemic period. I created my design with the materials I could find at home. This both compelled me and made me creative. I created a wearable design using three different colors of paper. I wore my design and shared it on my social media.
Shortly after sharing my design, I received a message from Stylesight Spotlight. They said they liked the design. They offered me sustainable fashion education in collaboration with the Kering Group and London Collage of Fashion, as well as certificate program training offered by the founders of Fashion Revolution. I was very surprised and happy. I have been interested in design since I was little. I willingly chose my department. With the support of our academics, I see that I improve every day. My design being admired also encouraged me for the work I plan to do next.”