Özlem Süer’s Fantastical Fashion Island

ISTANBUL–When most designers present their collections they put their clothes on models and send them down a runway. But Özlem Süer’s SS 2011 show (a performance, really) bucked against convention.

The show was on a small islet in the Bosphorus where the Maiden’s Tower, an old light house dating back to 408 BC, sits.

Once there, I felt transported, and not just because I was physically transported to an island in the middle of the Bosphorus for a fashion show. From the minute we stepped onto the boats that would bring us to the Maiden’s Tower, we were in Özlem Süer fashion “dream land” where she invited attendees to become “heros” in her story. The experience was pure fantasy: there were mimes, winged creatures, and models dressed like Marie Antoinette on stilts.