LINIST – Fashion from Berlin to Istanbul

LINIST is the name of an initiative that is building a fashionable bridge between BerLIN and ISTanbul. A sale in the Istanbul concept store Midnight Express is the first coup. The latest avant-garde collections of both cities will be coming together to celebrate the Vogue Fashion Night Out on 19 September in Istanbul’s in-neighbourhood Ni?anta?i.

Labels like Starstyling, Vladimir Karaleev, Uslu Airlines, Mykita, Issever Bahri and Hien Le will be participating in the promising event. Last year the Vogue Fashion Night Out, which takes place in three neighbourhoods of Istanbul, attracted more than 50,000 fashionistas to the stores.

The 37-year-old initiator of LINIST, Gülriz Egilmez, sees several parallels between the two metropolises. For example, they both have vibrant fashion scenes, which are gaining increasing international attention. J’N’C asked the Berliner with Turkish roots to tell us more about the LINIST project.

Gülriz, how did you come across the Midnight Express store?
Midnight Express is pretty much the Colette of Istanbul. There are meanwhile already three branches of the store, which brings together labels from Turkey and the rest of the world. A highly inspiring smorgasbord of fashion, accessories and beauty, which I also enjoy browsing in when I come to Istanbul.

Are you from Istanbul originally?
I was born in Izmir, but came to Germany with my parents in the 1970s and moved to Berlin soon afterwards.

Which city do you prefer?
That’s a very difficult question! I definitely feel like a Berliner – this is where I’m based. But I love Turkey as a result of my bicultural background. And due to its lifestyle Istanbul is a very appealing contrast to Berlin. This is also reflected in their respective design scenes.

I sometimes have the feeling that the cities of Berlin and Istanbul are like islands in their respective countries.
Exactly. But while Berlin is an oasis, Istanbul is not as laid-back and homely. In Berlin it’s really easy to set up and develop a network as a local or a newcomer to the city. You can do each other favours, it’s all very informal a lot of the time and often also for very little or no money. That’s not possible in Istanbul, alone due to the high living costs. You make an agreement, carry out the project, deliver by the deadline – it’s all very professional and fast. As soon as money is in the picture, things become a lot more binding. The creatives there have to fend for themselves a lot more – which is why you can also sense the great passion that they have for their profession and which makes them successful. Especially in view of the working methods there is still a lot of scope for mutual inspiration between the metropolises.

So Berlin could take a leaf out of Istanbul’s book?
Yes. Here everyone’s sick of hearing the hackneyed phrase ‘poor, but sexy’, which is often used to describe the German capital.

The Istanbul Fashion Week seems a lot more glitzy and glamorous than the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin
Of course each of the cities represents their own style. As part of the LINIST project, in January we want to invite Turkish designers who represent the bandwidth of Turkish fashion to a fashion show in Berlin in order to highlight their love of fashion and its presentation.

Midnight Express Concept Store
NISHANTASI
Kadrgalar Cad. Açk Hava
Apt. No:8/3
www.midnightexpress.com.tr