The 34-year-old stylist joins the official calendar with great creativity, to compensate for a modest budget, and a unique look between East and West that has seduced celebrities as different as Cate Blanchett, Cardi B, Kendall Jenner or Isabelle Huppert.

Under the eyes of his neighbors, between golden palm trees, professional models and friends of the designer walked Tuesday a sand-colored carpet placed in the courtyard of his building, where he had already organized his previous shows.

"I find it important to bring my guests home, it's very +home+. We are in the 8th arrondissement, there is the fashion house side, "he says, completing the final preparations in his apartment which serves as his workshop and where he has for private space only the room cluttered with patterns.

Franco-Turkish designer Burc Akyol in his studio in Paris, June 19, 2023 © Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP

"It's very good that Vuitton is doing this huge show. We are not Vuitton but it does not matter, we may be one day, "he added to AFP.

Thus we will see "the two facets" of the Parisian fashion scene, between the big institutional houses and "we who manage to make magic with very little".

"Burqa-style" look for women's rights

The one who, as a teenager, dressed in women's pants because he was very thin is convinced that "clothing has no gender".

He therefore presents a non-gendered collection at the men's week because it is easier to get noticed this way and the timing is better for sales.

He tries all the prototypes himself, including the bras. If he is in the mirror, he keeps them.

One of the flagship dresses of the collection is made of "lace all black, very simple, who slept" in stocks. "We just inserted gold threads in it to be able to make something special of it and give it a second life."

Transparent with an integrated thong, it is worn by a model with curves that we are not used to seeing on the catwalks, especially to present this kind of silhouette.

Like the previous season, the designer makes a "burqa-style" look (a play on words with his first name), especially to "raise the issue" of women's rights.

Franco-Turkish designer Burc Akyol in his studio in Paris, June 19, 2023 © Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP

The transparent veil integrated into the cap covers the body from head to toe, with tights as the only piece underneath.

Last season, he made a hair skirt to denounce the repression of women in Iran.

"I have sisters, I want them to have a fulfilled sex life, to be feminine, I want them to have the sovereignty of their bodies," says Burc Akyol.

For him who loves slits and transparencies, those who hide the body "in design are in denial of the body".

Austere and sexy, elegant and sensual, her outfits reflect her identity.

"I was born in France with Turkish parents. Once I left my parents' apartment, I became French because I had to be French and, when I came home, I ate like a Turk, I lived like a Turk."

Son of a tailor, he grew up in low-rent housing in Dreux, an hour from Paris, with "many immigrants". "We had a desire for beauty," recalls Burc Akyol.

He learned to sew at home, where the whole family would "patch up clothes on Saturday nights while watching TV." He also acquired a taste for fashion by watching fashion shows on television.

However, he says he is now happy that everything is happening on YouTube and social networks, which is conducive for young talents, who are "no longer forced to depend on the big media".

© 2023 AFP