Nina’s story

I visited the fashion trade show “the gallery” in Düsseldorf, Germany (31 Jan-3 Feb 2014) where I met many distinguished designers. And I had the chance to see the new creations of many designers long before they reach to the public. I will share some of them with you. Today I start with Ümit Ünal. He is a famous Turkish designer who is also known for the interesting stories he tells in his collections.

The jacket from Nina collection - Ümit Ünal

His recent collection takes its name from the recent history. It is called “Nina” and in that collection his inspiration source is Nina Simone, the American singer. 

Nina Simone

In Düsseldorf, he showed the designs that were inspired from the backstage or street clothes of Nina Simone.

Nina collection

At the end of February, he will introduce the other part of the same collection which was inspired from the stage costumes of Simone, in Paris.

Nina collection

 

Ümit Ünal creates mostly unisex. His designs can be worn by both men and women. However he said that he designs also jeans which are specifically for men.

Nina

Nina

Ünal visits Germany often. His collections are sold in Frankfurt and Hamburg too. He says that he loves the streets of Berlin and the young men and women of the city: “I believe Berlin is one of the cities that my collections suit the best.”

His private atelier is in Istanbul, in the district called Taksim. In the last three years he focuses more on the international market. “My collections can be found worldwide in 40 boutiques in 20 countries. From Ghana to Canada, from Osaka to Chicago in many boutiques one can see my designs” says Ünal.

Entrance to the gate of the God...

For those who wonder I will mention about some of his old collections whose stories I find interesting as well. 

The collection Enoch (Photographer: Sedef Delen - http://www.umitunal.com)

We see clearly the traces of his studies in the designs. Besides fashion design he studied also archeology and art history. Those educations seem to affect his collections. Sometimes he takes us to the ancient Mesopotamian city through the “Gate of God” with the “Bab-ili” (meaning gate of the god) collection or suddenly we find ourselves deep in the mythology as in the collection “Enoch”. He tells us the story of how the nephilims/fallen angels who came on the Earth and chose earthly women as wives according to the Book of Enoch in his collection dating back to 2004.

You can even find the mysterious "Amish" people's effect in his collections.

Amish collection (Photo: http://www.umitunal.com)

I suggest if you buy anything from his collections ask also for the story to know in which time or mystery you will be travelling when you wear the item.