Aslı Filinta
Aslı Filinta | |
|---|---|
| Education | Bilkent University |
| Occupation | Fashion designer |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Website | aslifilinta |
Aslı Filinta is a Turkish fashion designer.[1][2] She founded a label under her own name in New York in 2008.[3][1] Her collections have drawn on Anatolian and Ottoman visual traditions and on upcycled Turkish fabrics.[1][3][4] In 2019 she showed a collection in the former Zülfaris Synagogue in Istanbul.[5][3] Her later work has involved production with women's craft cooperatives in Turkey.[6]
Early life and education
Filinta is from Adana, Turkey.[3] She took an economics degree at Bilkent University in Ankara and worked in finance before moving to New York, where she founded her label.[3][4][1]
Career
In 2009 Filinta's work was carried at the Vogue Nippon × Comme des Garçons "Magazine Alive" store in Minami-Aoyama, Tokyo.[2] In July 2013 she gave a solo presentation of a sportswear collection, "The New World", inspired by the Ottoman mapmaker Piri Reis, as part of the Istanbul Next showcase of Turkish designers.[7]
Her 2014 collection took the Ottoman architect Sinan as its starting point; she has also worked from the poetry of Rumi and from Ottoman cartography.[1]
In March 2019 Filinta presented her autumn–winter collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Istanbul,[4][5] staging the show in the former Zülfaris Synagogue in Karaköy.[5][3] The building housed the Turkish Jewish Museum until 2015.[3][8] Filinta told The Forward that she had chosen the former synagogue "not as a bold statement but to complete my story".[3] The garments were made from upcycled Turkish materials such as kutnu silk, crinkled cotton and macramé lace.[3][4] The duo İnsanlar performed live on the bağlama.[3]
Production work
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic Filinta's workshop began sewing uniforms; the Middle East edition of T Magazine reported that the effort eventually produced some 20,000.[6]
Filinta worked in the Hatay region after the earthquakes of February 2023, where she took up cimem, a declining local craft of weaving wheat straw.[6] According to the same report, a commission for a beauty brand produced some 10,000 cimem bags from upcycled straw and provided work for around 350 women.[6] In 2025 she founded the BİZ Collective in Antakya, which places design and production work with women's cooperatives and regional artisans.[6]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Weaving Turkey's past into new fashion". BBC Culture (Video). 20 October 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Asli Filinta at Magazine Alive Store in Tokyo". Dazed. 29 May 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hanson, Matt A. (21 July 2019). "Why This Turkish Fashion Designer Chose A Former Synagogue For Her Runway Backdrop". The Forward. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Cardini, Tiziana (26 March 2019). "Asli Filinta Is the Name to Know From Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Istanbul". Vogue. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 Demir, Müşra (21 March 2019). "Aslı Filinta Sonbahar-Kış 2019 Koleksiyonu" [Aslı Filinta Autumn–Winter 2019 Collection]. Marie Claire Türkiye (in Turkish). Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Yalav Heckeroth, Feride (10 July 2026). "A Turkish designer finds the future in disappearing crafts". T Magazine. Arabian Business. ITP Media Group. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- ↑ Stone, Susan (8 July 2013). "Istanbul Next Highlights Four Turkish Designers". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 17 August 2026.
- ↑ "Turkey: A Turkish designer holds a fashion show in a former Istanbul synagogue". Jewish Heritage Europe. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2026.