"Luxury Branding and Fashion" webinar created in cooperation with IFA Paris Istanbul and BAUSEM took place on Tuesday, May 25. The webinar attracted great attention from fashion and luxury-lovers and was attended by ELLE Fashion Magazine Editorial Manager Suzan Yurdacan, Beymen Purchasing Manager Tuğçe Kaya, Victoria's Secret Visual Manager Damla Aktar, and Designer/Influencer Tuvana Büyükçınar with the participation of 190 people.
IFA Paris Istanbul Founder and Manager, Adile Cretallaz, who is also a member of the IFA Paris Group Board and BAUSEM Director Lecturer Member Elif Çetin stated that they are proceeding with the same vision about the cooperation and that it is very valuable for both institutions to act with the same global perspective. IFA Paris Istanbul expressed that they will support the development of Bahçeşehir University and BAUSEM in the field of fashion and will provide the necessary training with the contribution of the cooperation. She also expressed that Bahçeşehir University provides a vision that will strengthen the stance of IFA Paris Istanbul in both national and international areas with being only one of the few universities in Turkey with quality education and strong academic staff. Talking about cooperative education, IFA Paris Istanbul Academic Director İpek Artuz emphasized that the presence of IFA Paris Istanbul in Turkey, which guides the needs of the industry in the field of fashion, is also important for the production and creative industry. She also said that Bahçeşehir University's perspective on technology in the fashion industry is in line with IFA Paris Istanbul's perspective.
In the webinar where the guests shared their knowledge and experiences about "Luxury Branding and Fashion", ELLE Fashion Magazine Editor-in-chief Suzan Yurdacan said that: "With the pandemic, the fashion world has questioned itself. Accordingly, we are working to offer a much more ethical, conscious, and much more sensitive production. We reflect these issues in our magazine, so we do not only cover fashion and trends. The concept of luxury has also changed during the pandemic period. When it comes to luxury, the most expensive and most difficult to reach comes to mind. We understood that it is also related to emotion and experience," Yurdacan shared her feelings with the participants by talking about the things they miss doing in magazine publishing during a pandemic "We missed face-to-face interviews, the photoshoots we made without masks and tests, commenting with the team in front of our screens in the office, and most of all we missed ELLE events."
Tuvana Büyükçınar talked about the formation process of Tuvanam and other sub-brands, which she created on the subject of Luxury Brand Creation, and talked about her adventure of branding and becoming a luxury brand: "I have loved creating and working since my childhood. My best friends while getting to this point was discipline and the feeling of desire. I wanted to bring something new to the country, starting from the monotony of fashion in Turkey, and we founded A46. With the experience I gained from my experiences abroad and from the purchases I made, I had a lot of experience on how to make a collection and which countries demand which products, and we started to bring many luxury brands to Turkey with the A46. But this was the reason we got caught in the network of brands such as Vakko and Beymen, which have done global business in our country, and we entered a brand war with these names. As a result, I participated in the Paris fashion week with my first collection in 2005 and my fashion adventure began. Thus, creating perhaps the most colorful store in the country and gaining a serious place in the marketplace. When different visions and different designs come together with constant observation and discipline, you take your place in the market for branding. Quality and originality are very important. My brands are under a luxury brand name. We say that everything you feel good about is luxury. Many factors such as the good paint we use, location, service quality, and using good products have carried us to luxury,"
Beymen Purchasing Manager Tuğçe Kaya explained the secret of Beymen’s brand success that provides extensive experience for Turkey on luxury and branding both globally and locally and said that: “We have a team that adopts and owns its work very much. At the same time, we are a brand that reacts very quickly to change and adapts. When these two phenomena come together, success emerges." Speaking about the reflections of the pandemic process in Beymen, Kaya said, "The pandemic also had an impact on Beymen's branding process. Everything has turned to digital, most of the products have been moved to digital. The value of touching the fabric has increased. Awareness developed, purchasing awareness formed in the field of fashion and luxury. Consumers began to question what they bought. For this reason, we have to keep ourselves updated as a brand.”
Damla Aktar, Visual Manager of Victoria's Secret, which is a brand that has hidden a beautiful and special purpose underneath, spoke on behalf of luxury and brand, "Victoria’s Secret is a brand that has a story and gets inspiration from the glamour and luxury of the Queen Victoria era instead of women wearing plain white underwear. Creating a luxury brand is a culture. As soon as we see its logo, we feel that message. Apart from the tangible product, it offers to the customer, emotion, and experience, and everything else as a whole. It's like marketing a dream. A brand can’t be luxurious without that passion. Aktar also announced that the fashion shows integrated with the brand will be on digital platforms following the changing trends in the world and surprise its brand lovers.
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