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The first thing you notice about Istanbul is that it's not like other European cities,
but then again, Narciso Rodriguez is not like other designers. He doesn't design something
new just for the sake of being new, but rather to create something timeless in a new way.
Maybe that's why Istanbul is the perfect setting for his new collection. A city that is timeless
but ever changing, moving continually, never standing still like the waters of the Bosporus
that runs through its center. Inspiration is everywhere - the haunting call to prayer
outside the mosques, the glittering jewels and colorful fabrics of grand bizarre, the
mounds of richly pigmented powders of the spice market, the pungent sweet and smoky
scents that settle on the atmosphere like a weightless mantle. And from this mosaic
of auditory and visual olfactory moments he will create his collection. Inspiration turns
to aw when we see the blue mosque with its series of cascading domes creating a graceful
angulating affect and Eye of Sophia, the main dome of which seems to be suspended from heaven
itself -- an architectural marvel that looks like a celestial miracle. It's not unlike
the artistry of Narciso Rodriguez. The architectural structure balanced with the fluidity of shear
draping fabrics floating weightlessly, effortlessly, like the dome of Eye of Sophia. Illusion based
on substance, because for Narciso, it's always about substance. It's about creating something
new, and beautiful, and wearable that has aesthetic appeal and intrinsic value. What
he will create for Kohl's will be a collage of experiences and impressions fashioned into
a collection. Not a literal translation, but rather an artist's interpretation of it. When
it comes to art and design Narciso is reverential, not referential. It you try to get too literal
about a motif or design, or aesthetic it gets "kitchy" as he says. That's why he's more
interested in patinas and colors, and textures than the objects themselves. A diagonal line
on a piece of pottery becomes an asymmetrical hemline on a dress. Sounds become feelings
and emotions, and emotions turn into colors and textures. A transmutation of properties
and form - everything here is an agent, a catalyst, in the crucible that is Istanbul.