You may recognise the ethereal Tülay Dinçel as one of the faces of the Dilettante online store. But over and above that, Tülay was also awarded the ‘Dilettante award’ for her dark and dreamy graduate collection in 2017.
Contemplating her own Turkish background and memories of growing up in Australia, the work of Tülay Dinçel explores traditional Turkish folk dress as well as the rich social and ethnic diversity that helps make contemporary society unique.
Ahead of the launch of Tülay’s capsule collection at Dilettante this evening, we paid the young designer a visit in her studio for a quick chat about the collection and her approach to design.
Diana: Can you tell us a bit more about your family’s background and how this has shaped your approach to design?
Tülay: My Mum is Australian and my Dad is Turkish. As a child there was always a strong mix of the two cultures, from the food we ate to the clothes my dad wore. He was very fashion conscious and had a keen eye for quality.
My mother is an artist so she was invariably drawing or creating new work throughout our upbringing. She always encouraged my older brother and I to do the same, and so creativity and art has always been an important fixture within our household.
Do you feel your aesthetic has changed during your study?
Definitely. Through all my studies and research I was constantly discovering new and exciting design or re-discovering old things I like. Naturally, it rubs off and still continues to change each day as a result.
Was there a particular collection or designer that ignited your love for fashion?
I'm going to be really honest and say it was 90's Gianni Versace, (laughs) but that was about 15 years ago.
Tell us about the story behind your graduate collection.
The concept of my grad collection was informed by many of my own memories growing up. I drew from Turkish culture and how I interpret it in conjunction with personal experience and then expressing that with a subtle culture clash.
It’s probably not seen like that by other people, but when I look at my grad collection it makes heaps of sense to me.
If you could work for one fashion house who would it be and why?
It would have to be Comme des Garçons, purely because they are groundbreaking and remain to be ahead of their time. Even collections from 20 years ago are ahead of today in my eyes.
To this day my favourite collection ever is their FW93 collection.
Amber Valletta in the Comme Des Garçons Fall ready-to-wear show of 1993.
If you could give somebody who is about to embark on a fashion design degree a piece of advice, what would it be?
Just to be prepared to have no money and no social life! (laughs) But more importantly, never underestimate the cost of fabric!
So what’s next for Tülay Dinçel?
I’m moving to Antwerp with my fiancé so I am currently looking to get an internship at a fashion house there. Until then, I’m working 9 to 5 to save money so I’m able to do that. ✹
