Gul 2014 ariel guerrero stewart

Fashionable Cities: A Study of London & Istanbul Fashion Weeks

Ariel Guerrero-Stewart

April 25, 2014

Istanbul Fashion Week 2014 Advertisement

London Fashion Week 2014 Entrance

Created for Global Urban Lab Rice University: School of Social Sciences & Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 2 Report.............................................................................................................................................. 3 I. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 3 II. Issue Statement ....................................................................................................................... 3 III. Research ................................................................................................................................ 5 IV. Findings ................................................................................................................................. 6 Progress of Fashion in the City................................................................................................ 6 Aspects of Fashion Week ........................................................................................................ 8 Future of Fashion Week ........................................................................................................ 10 IV. Recommendations................................................................................................................... 11 V. Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 13 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 14

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Executive Summary London and Istanbul differ in many aspects; however, in a post-industrial age with cities constantly competing for status, money, and tourists, both are interested in developing their creative industries such as fashion. The cities arrived to the global fashion scene in different ways: London with its iconic and historical trends, Istanbul with its expertise in clothing manufacturing, and now, because of the fast fashion movement, its experience in design as well.

London is one of the four established fashion capitals of the world, but in recent years it has faced criticism about whether or not it deserves its ranking. Istanbul held its first fashion week in 2009 and has been increasing its fashion recognition since. Both cities share a common space in the worldwide fashion community and produce internationally watched fashion weeks. By exploring the history and mechanisms of both events the result offers an inside look into both countries’ thriving fashion industries and how the cities showcase themselves accordingly on a global stage.

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Report I. Introduction There are four internationally accepted fashion capitals of the world: Paris, Milan, New York, and London, more colloquially known as ‘The Big Four.’ For two weeks every year these cities, their designers, and their shows are put in the spotlight for the entire fashion world to marvel at. Catwalks, models, and Devil Wears Prada references only scratch the surface of these elaborate and expansive events that attract other cities across the world to compete for fashion destination status.

London, one of the four fashion capitals and home to the established British Fashion Council, has been the hub of Britain's booming fashion industry for decades. London Fashion Week has progressed over the years from car parks and breezy tents to the historic Somerset House and other posh locations throughout central London. Though the British Fashion Council has allowed for greater funding and support for young designers and city-wide events, the organization has identified key weaknesses in the industry, including the continued outsourcing of local clothing manufacturing. London specifically has in recent years faced criticism for not being able to retain its most prominent British designers, the most successful of which have been known to relocate to the other three fashion capitals, and questions have been raised as to whether or not the city still deserves its ranking at the top.

Istanbul, with its young fashion week and relatively new arrival to the global fashion scene, has had more experience on the runways of high-fashion than the one might think. For the last thirty years, Turkey has been a key player in the world clothing industry, with many countries around the world, the United Kingdom included, importing Turkish textiles and garments. This competence in manufacturing, along with the introduction of the fast fashion movement, (an accelerated, high-turn-over market producing the most up-to-date fashion trends), has allowed more Turkish design than ever. A close relationship with and proximity to these manufacturers, the creation of the Turkish Designer's Association, and the opening of Turkey’s first fashion design school, has provided Turkish designers with a platform of opportunity never experienced before.

Despite the two cities’ disparities in history, culture, and primary language, Istanbul and London share this common industry, the drive to improve their status as creative cities, and the effort to produce and support local designers, all similarities showcased by fashion week. Every aspect of these events is carefully crafted and sewn together to represent the cities, from their venue, to their designers, to their guest lists. The progression of their fashion weeks, and subsequently their fashion industries, reveal more about the cities, their strengths, their challenges, and their posterity than might be expected.

II. Issue Statement The idea of fashion bringing something other than high-end designer clothes and sizezero models to a city seemed slightly radical at first. After spending three months in London, witnessing the number of news articles gearing up for London Fashion Week in the daily papers, and examining the exotic and daring dress Londoners display in virtually every part of the city, 3|Page

the impact no longer seemed too much of a stretch. Additionally, the number of tourists who are frequenters at high profile stores, including the world-renowned Harrod's, and other similar department stores along Oxford Street, points to a certain allure London fashion brings. Istanbul, too, exhibited a very strong fashion presence, from large billboard signs to chic shopping malls and, of course, the extensive number of markets and shops selling the finest of textiles.

Enil, Evren, and Dincer, professors of urban planning in Istanbul, specifically studied Istanbul’s “cultural industries”—creative sectors also including arts and culture festivals, the film industry, and the fashion industry—and made a case that each contributes to three aspects of enhancing the city: attracting capital, attracting people, and making for a more attractive destination to outsiders. With a greater emphasis on post-industrial knowledge economies and drawing in "highly mobile qualified labour," industries such as fashion provide a competitive edge for cities trying to re-differentiate themselves from their neighbors (Enlil, Evren and Dincer). The creative scene and cultural promise add to bringing in non-fashion businesses that might otherwise choose to locate somewhere else. In terms of people, cultural industries attract not only workers, who have more choice in where they live and work, but visitors as well. These new-found creative and fashionable destinations "encourage tourists to prolong their stays and help ensure a return visit," thus providing the cities with more tourist dollars (168).

In addition to indirectly providing money and talent to cities in terms of drawing capital, workers, and tourists, a growing fashion industry can provide a sizable contribution to a country and city's GDP. According to British Fashion Council's current chairwoman, Natalie Massenet, "Britain's fashion industry is worth a record £26 billion a year," and the "fashion sector, which accounts for about 800,000 UK jobs, has seen its value soar by twenty-two percent since 2009" (Dacre and McCarthy).Turkey, too, sees a Figure 1: Zeynep Erdogan Show, October 2013 generous portion of its GDP made up of both textiles and clothing. Combined, the two sectors "had a(n) 18.3% share in total export volume in 2013…[constituting] more than 52,000 textile and clothing companies in Turkey with more than 918,000 employees" (Economy).In both countries, London and Istanbul are the hubs and exhibition sites of this creation of wealth, attracting more investment and talent than anywhere else in the respective countries.

Fashion week thus serves more of a purpose than to "simply showcase next season's fashionable clothing,…[and has another] main function to produce, reproduce and legitimate the field of fashion and the players within it" (Entwistle and Rocamora). The week is much more for networking, press coverage, and business within the city than it is for observing new trends, colors, and styles, but how exactly did these big events turn in to such high-profile city spectacles?

Fashion weeks, though fleeting and often restricted to those professionally involved, provide a microcosm of the larger fashion industry and creative endeavors of London and Istanbul. This report explores two cities far separated in terms of distance and culture, but brought closer together by the competitive and innovative industry of fashion. Examination of 4|Page

Istanbul and London Fashion Weeks, namely their intertwined backgrounds, the similar organizations behind them, and the progression and aspirations they strive to attain will provide a different perspective of the cities and the often overlooked industry of fashion.

III. Research Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to explore the fashion industries and fashion weeks of London and Istanbul. These efforts began with a literature review of online news articles and journals, as well as annual reports from both Turkey's Ministry of Economy and the United Kingdom's British Fashion Council. Several of the articles and websites regarding Istanbul Fashion Week and economy were in Turkish which often proved to be difficult to translate.

My further research was observational, from living in and observing the attitudes toward London fashion and London Fashion Week to interactions with tourists and residents, advertisements news articles, and marketing throughout the city. Observational research continued throughout a nine day trip to Istanbul which provided direct insight into the city's fashion and strikingly unique advertisements, which often featured veiled women in keeping with the largely Islamic population. Unfortunately, our visit to Istanbul ended the day before Istanbul Fashion Week began which proved difficult not only with visiting the site and seeing the show in action, but with scheduling interviews with the busy representatives involved. I was, however, able to watch many of the shows on the internet later on.

Figure 2: Model at London Fashion Week Though I was unsuccessful with timing in regards to experiencing Istanbul's Fashion Week first-hand, I was able to interact with several of London's show spaces, including the center of operations, Somerset House, and Top Shop’s Tate Modern show during London Fashion Week. These visits consisted of observing the public courtyard space of Somerset House, talking to representatives at information desks, viewing and snapping pictures of my own of some of the roaming models (see Figure 2), and interacting with the space.

Though I was not able to see any shows from inside, I was able to watch many of the runways online, as with Istanbul.

In London I made several attempts at contacting and arranging meeting times with representatives from the British Fashion Council and professors of fashion and design within the city, but, unfortunately, was faced with learning first-hand about the exclusivity of the industry and therefore had to rely mostly on published information and reports. I was, however, able to converse with a representative from L'Appart, the official PR agency of Mercedes Benz Istanbul Fashion Week, who was able to answer questions about this year's show and Istanbul as a fashion destination.

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IV. Findings Progress of Fashion in the City London Known for many historical associations with fashion movements including “the ‘Swinging Sixties,’ the Punk and New Romantic movements of the 1970s and 1980s” and the “Cool Britannia image of the 1990s…," the British fashion industry has produced many of the global iconic looks in the modern age of fashion (Value of Fashion).To showcase these new waves, London was home to many singular designer showrooms until the ad hoc Fashion Industry Action Group was created in 1981. Transformed into the British Fashion Council by 1983, Britain and London sought to coordinate the fashion exhibition scene.

Just one year later, in 1984, the first London Fashion Week was launched to provide a platform for designers to showcase their collections and took shape similar to "its current form with a central catwalk venue…" (Council). Subsequent alterations and improvements continued throughout the years including lobbying for funding to support designers, relocating to the Duke of York’s Headquarters, to the Natural History Museum, and later Somerset House, and finally securing multi-million pound funding from The London Development Agency.

The non-profit British Fashion Council's responsibilities and influence have extended since its initial years. In addition to organizing London Fashion Week (and now the British Fashion Awards), its role has developed past event planning to researching the fashion industry of the United Kingdom and providing strategic repositioning recommendations in terms of fashion education, job creation, and local designer outreach in the United Kingdom. In order to carry out all of these tasks, the BFC is supported by “industry patrons” and “commercial partners” in addition to receiving “grant support from the Mayor of London” and specific funding from UK Trade and Investment to support the growth of British businesses (2013 Report). The organization and financial backing the British Fashion Council possesses and generates allows the city to produce “promising designers who have garnered investments or big jobs” (Binkley). This is the ultimate goal of the British Fashion Council, to help in the success of British designers.

Whether the Council is able to retain these successful designers is another question entirely. Past British superstar designers including Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, and Zac Posen have all relocated to other fashion capitals: Paris, Milan, and New York, after they received investment and started selling their product (Sykes). This retention of established designers as a goal of the Council remains unclear under the heavy emphasis on discovering and supporting new designers. Programs such as NEWGEN and Fashion Forward have allowed for and continue to produce some of the biggest British fashion designers to come to fruition.

Another concern of the British Fashion Council and the entire British fashion industry today is the increasing decline in textile and clothing manufacturing within the United Kingdom.

The report "Value of Fashion" carried out by students and professors of Economics at Oxford, has called the decrease in UK manufacturing over the past 15 years, "one of the most notable aspects of the historical data” and claims that national “retailers and wholesalers have increasingly sought to source goods from emerging markets…" (Value of Fashion).

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Coincidentally, one of these 'emerging markets' is Turkey, and coincidentally its fashion headquarters is Istanbul.

Istanbul Istanbul proves to have a very different origin for its fashion expertise and like many of the city’s other strengths and weaknesses, centers around location. Tokatli, Wirley and Kizilgun present a case study of a British retailer, Marks & Spencer, documenting its progression from providing most of the clothing production and design in-country, to production in Turkey, to design in Turkey (Tokatli, Wrigley and Kizilgün). The original production was based on a “ready-to-wear” system, with two collections, Fall and Spring, designed and ordered months ahead of the season (264). This system was maintained with predominantly UK-owned suppliers until the mid-1990s when competition proved too heavy, especially from the “fast fashion” retailers.

Fast fashion, is a phenomenon that began in the 1990s in Europe, then termed the “throwaway market,” which consisted of high fashion and low-price clothing that has been “winning over consumers” for years (Tokatli, Wrigley and Kizilgün). Fast fashion retailers include stores such as H&M, Zara, Top Shop, and Primark, which not only offer “budget interpretations of catwalk styles...[but] clothes in a variety of styles with very rapid design [cycles]” (265). This radical idea, to manufacture and sell garments in real-time fashion Figure 3: Turkish Clothing Exports trends instead of the traditional route of attempting to Source: Turkish Ministry of Economy predict what will sell in the next season, has played a crucial role in sustaining Turkey’s clothing manufacturing. Paired with Istanbul’s strategic location and its competitive advantage in transportation costs with other frequently outsourced countries, it makes sense that European companies and designers would outsource their textiles and garments to this city (Figure 3).

Marks & Spencer, being one of these companies threatened by the emergence of fast fashion, urged its suppliers to relocate production to “low-wage but competent countries” and as the years passed, more and more Turkish factories were opened and expanded (266). By 2005, Marks & Spencer had opened a direct sourcing office in Istanbul and the decisions with regard to the “look of the next season” were slowly beginning to be passed on to the manufacturers and their in-house designers (270). Today, with the greatest time constraints in competing with fast fashion turnover rates, Turkish suppliers are now offered more autonomy in designing garments and presenting collections to buyer teams, which, in the case of Marks & Spencer, would fly in from London.

With greater proficiency and confidence in design, and a greater understanding of the global fashion business, Turkish clothing manufacturers and designers are in a better place than ever before. In 2006, a major collaboration between the Turkish government and the European Union established the first fashion design school in Turkey, the Istanbul Moda Academy (Sims).

Co-founder of Istanbul Moda Academy and London College of Fashion lecturer, Lynne 7|Page

Hammond, explains that Istanbul is “really set up to produce a generation of high quality designers… More production from big brands is moving to Turkey” and the “manufacturing strength also means that much design training...can be work-based” (ibid). This places design training ahead of other countries, such as the United Kingdom, that requires much of the manufacturing instruction to be “simulated.”

In order to “gain recognition for Turkish designers and brands in national and international tribunes,” Istanbul ushered in the well-known Mercedes Benz, sponsor and namesake of New York Fashion Week, to host the city’s own biannual showcase in 2009 (Economy). The first fashion week was held in a tent without air conditioning and just one year later, Istanbul Fashion Week 2010 had progressed to the Istanbul Museum of Fine Arts with a showcase of twenty-four designers and over 31,000 visitors (Sims). Designers across the city have subsequently started to become successful enough to “start their own brands, move to bigger studies, open showrooms and even storefronts” (Ross). Additionally, the first Turkish Designer’s Association (Moda Tasarimcilari Dernegi) was created in 2011, (thirty years after the creation of British Fashion Council) with president, Mehtap Elaidi, serving as spokesperson for the needs and representation of Turkish designers.

Aspects of Fashion Week Sponsored by a host of corporate promoters, most notably Canon for London and Mercedes Benz for Istanbul, biannual fashion weeks across the globe share many similar aspects.

These aspects include central points of operation in their host city, off-schedule show sites, exclusive access to these sites and shows with greater restrictions on the big-name designers, as well as a specific range of key actors who form a hierarchy of importance in terms of access and input.

Location London Fashion Week, pre-British Fashion Council, had its humble beginnings in parking lots and breezy pop-up tents before moving to several more permanent locations throughout the city and finally settling at Somerset House along the Thames River (Figure 4). The headquarters is located in Westminster with views, not only of the river, but of London’s most iconic structures, including The London Eye, Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben. This location is also home to the British Fashion Council's base of operations and serves as a grand, neoclassical setting to showcase not only spectacular views of the city, but the new collections of designers.

Figure 4: Somerset House Courtyard

While Somerset House is the main, on-schedule site for the majority of the week’s shows, the next largest official site is Top Shop’s exhibition at the Tate Modern Museum. This 8|Page

exhibition site just across the Thames River is home to the British Fashion Council’s designer programs, Fashion Forward and NEWGEN, showcasing only new or developing designers.

Spread out around the city are increasingly numerous off-site and off-schedule exhibitions designers opt to hold instead of joining Somerset House. This is a growing occurrence, not only in London, but in other fashion capitals such as New York, and even Istanbul.

Similar in waterfront location to London’s Somerset House, Istanbul Fashion Week's main base of activity lies on the banks of the Bosphorus in Antrepo 3, part of the Antrepo complex of redeveloped warehouses (Antrepo 3). This complex includes Istanbul Modern Art Museum, established in 2004 as the first private museum to organize modern and contemporary art exhibitions in Turkey (About). The site flaunts breath-taking waterfront views of the Bosphorus and of Istanbul’s cityscape (Figure 5). While the venue, like Somerset House, displays some of the best views and angles of the city, it is interesting to note that Istanbul, with its strong and extensive history, chose to host their event in the contemporary and edgy Antrepo 3. This sends a message to its attendees and spectators that Istanbul and Turkish fashion are not only on-par with other sophisticated cities, but that it is part Figure 5: Istanbul Modern Museum of the future.

As mentioned previously, the recent trend of designers holding off-site shows holds true in Istanbul as well, however, the practice is proving to have a few more difficulties. According to Rene Ames of Time Out Istanbul magazine, the trend did not contribute to this year’s turnout and notes that “in a city not known for easy movement from A to B, [opting for off-site shows] should have registered as an ill-considered decision.” Having experienced the frustration of traveling and transport around Istanbul, it can be said that the effort expended by visiting off-site shows would have been exhaustive.

Actors Fashion week is the optimal place to see all of the fashion industry’s key players in one arena. Designers, models, journalists and other media coverage, buyers from around the world, fashion stylists, celebrities, and personnel who organize the shows all work together to produce a successful event. These actors, however, can be split up into behind-the-scenes actors and faceof-the-event actors.

Behind-the-scenes actors begin preparation for fashion week even before the previous season’s event has concluded, with dates and locations reserved in advance. While the British Fashion Council organizes London’s fashion week, Istanbul’s is largely put together by IMG Worldwide, a conglomerate which recently acquired Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. Both the British Fashion Council and IMG are responsible for collecting sponsorships, organizing the schedules and designers, acquiring sound, lighting, security, and construction of the venue, and dealing with the press. The press is another actor in the category and often these journalists and reporters are responsible for a month or more fashion week coverage, as the four fashion capitals hold their fashion week one after the next. Finally, those responsible for hair and makeup, lights 9|Page

and set, and less priority buyers who will take a seat further back during the show. These are the people who play the biggest role in making the event run smoothly.

The face-of-the-event actors include the designers themselves, who often make appearances at the end of their show or at after-show parties, the models who are selected to showcase the collections, high priority buyers, and celebrities who are often sought out by the designers themselves or PR agencies. These actors, though important, are the ones who land coverage in the newspapers and online, but have very little part in making the show function.

They, however, have access which is more than most people receive during these events.

Access Both London and Istanbul fashion weeks are exclusive, fashion industry events that allow very little access to visitors. The venues are not completely closed off, making it possible to witness parts of the event from the outside such as wandering models, lines of attendees, and in London’s case, the live screen, however, trying to enter a show without a pass is nearly impossible. Exceptions are made for those who have access to a designer or their PR agencies and each of these is allotted a certain amount of guests, often celebrities who will stir up excitement for the designer’s collection.

Observing from the courtyard of Somerset House there was a large distinction between who is allowed to see the collections first-hand and who isn’t. Just conversing with some of the workers at the help desk, it was made very clear that the event was business and that if you didn’t have a special lanyard with an access pass you weren’t going to get very far. Additionally, walking around the off-site shows, this time on the sidewalks outside or the nearby park vicinity as in the case of Burberry's show in Kensington Gardens those without a ticket were not warmly greeted.

Vodafone London Fashion Weekend, a several day event occurring the weekend after London Fashion Week, is the only time members of the general public can openly purchase tickets to see a runway show; however, the price for a ticket does not come cheap. The least expensive ticket to see a show is thirty-seven British Pounds Sterling, roughly sixty-two dollars, for either a morning or an evening session (Vodafone Fashion Weekend). While this may seem like a bargain to some it should also be noted that the less expensive tickets are known to sell out quickly. The most expensive option available even up to the last day of purchase for all times, the Luxe Package, includes front row seats to two shows, access to a program of industry talks, and a VIP limited edition designer tote bag, for only £130, or $218.

Istanbul Fashion Week, in contrast, does not have a separate fashion weekend for the public. The show is still considered an industry event is geared strongly towards industry personnel. Designers, however, do work with their respective public relations agencies and do invite their own guests.

Future of Fashion Week With the intense competition between cities to produce successful fashion weeks and the similar competition between the best fashion designers to produce the best shows, the future of the fashion week will continue to be significantly different than how it was originally envisioned 10 | P a g e

in the past. Several features are likely to occur including increased commercialization through the attraction of celebrities and the diffusion of off-site, off-schedule designer shows.

While designers and their models are often front and center in media outlets (as they should be, considering the event is specifically for the designer and their collections), many stories regarding fashion week follow the celebrities in the front row or even the ones who have their own guest clothing lines. The idea makes sense, in order to attract the right buyers and the right press for the show inviting celebrities is a sure way to achieve both. When the celebrities begin to outshine the designers, specifically the ones without the influence to invite celebrities of their own, and the collections they produce, however, the practice can be called into question.

For example, in order to garner attention for the River Island showcase during London Fashion Week Spring 2013, acclaimed singer, Rihanna, showcased her own guest line, which “undoubtedly raised the profile of London Fashion Week, but it also sucked up all the available media attention for 24 hours, depriving Fashion Week stalwarts…of oxygen in [that] Sunday’s papers” (Sykes). Additionally, this year’s London Fashion Week coverage included many photos and stories about stars such as One Direction’s, Harry Stiles, and American actor, Bradley Cooper, in place of more coverage for the collections themselves. Istanbul is not resistant to this trend. Several articles covered the footsteps of Georgia May Jagger, the daughter of Mick Jagger, during Istanbul Fashion Week this season (Thistlethwaite). Again, all press may be good press in terms of the city and the fashion week as a whole, however, this future possibility does not bode well for the under-established designer.

Established designers, especially those in possession of enough sponsorships or funds to afford an off-site rental space, are also increasingly beginning to host their own private shows during Fashion Week. This phenomenon, which has become a bit excessive in New York City where “shows in Lincoln Center…represent less than a third of those taking place throughout” fashion week, may be what both London and Istanbul fashion weeks can expect in the coming years (Wilson). The main advantages of showing a collection at the main venue are press coverage and price, as “the spaces are relatively inexpensive compared with the cost of independently mounting a production with lighting and sound” (ibid). If the designer, however, has the resources there is nothing stopping them from pursuing their exhibition elsewhere.

This process of dispersing designers throughout the cities during fashion week, however, also poses several problems. Not only it leave the event less cohesive and less like a community, it distracts some of the buyers and press coverage that would otherwise be given to the lessestablished, less-experienced designers who would not be able to afford their own space. While this diffusion of runway is more feasible in London with its transportation feasibility, the process in London, as noted previously, is much more difficult and time-consuming in Istanbul. This would restrict the buyers and press even further.

IV. Recommendations While the two fashion weeks serve their purpose in highlighting the collections of local designers and showcasing the cities as creative and attractive destinations, they also have room for improvement in certain aspects. In order to produce a stronger collection of designers and stay competitive in an increasingly dynamic global marketplace I have both recommendations for each city specifically and for both cities together.

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London London Fashion Week already does a great deal to include the general masses in their events, including streaming the shows, providing access to the courtyard at Somerset House, and establishing London Fashion Weekend, however, the latter proves difficult to visit due to monetary restraints. Because London is already a fashion capital, the city sees plenty of visitors from around the world during Fashion Week who are disappointed at the lack of access they have. Lowering the prices for admission to Fashion Weekend or holding the event at a larger venue in order to maximize attendance could help to further establish connection with the public and aspiring designers.

Istanbul Istanbul Fashion Week has made strides for only its eleventh show and has already succeeded in garnering a good deal of outside press and recognition. In order to gain more popularity within the city it would do well to create a public event similar to London’s Fashion Weekend. With the support of the citizens and the credibility of the Turkish Fashion Design Association the possibilities are extensive in terms of gaining more funding for Turkish designers and design students.

London and Istanbul To prevent the fashion weeks from becoming a diluted mess of individualized personal shows (as it was in the past), the British Fashion Council and the Turkish Designer’s Association should both incentivize designers to stay in the main fashion week venues. This, as explained previously, will serve to retain buyers and press for all designers from established to novice and make it easier in terms of transportation to and from shows.

Additionally, in terms of fashion design education, collaborating with each other more in terms of design students and professors will allow each city to gain knowledge and insight into the specialties of the other (manufacturing for Istanbul and historical and international design for London). These two fashionable cities have a lot to learn from each other and would do well to share their expertise and experiences.

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V. Acknowledgements I would like to extend a great, big “Thank You” to Dr. Emerson, Ipek Martinez, Dr. Nia Georges, Giray Özşeker, and Abbey Godley for allowing me the opportunity to learn so much about two amazing countries, cities, and cultures. Thank you to fashion week collaborators for taking the time to answer my endless questions. Special thanks to the coach driver in Istanbul who kindly escorted our group everywhere we needed to go (and endured our rather terrible Turkish singing). Finally, thank you to my fellow Global Urban Lab Londoners for all of the support and comic relief needed to live in a different part of the world. I appreciate the guidance and knowledge each and every one in this program have given me and for the experience of a lifetime in two unbelievably remarkable cities, London and in Istanbul.

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Thistlethwaite, Felicity. "Taking a Break from the Catwalk: George May Jagger." The Daily Mail. 11 March 2014. Web. 14 February 2014.

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