The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2022 - Issue 31

bitefashion consultant at ITHIB and has been part of the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th ITHIB Fabric Design Contest jury in 2014 and 2018. Two of his fashion shows held in Turkey - ‘120 Days of Sodom’ and ‘Marie Antoinette’ made the news in both Turkish and worldwide press. He is the first and only Turk- ish designer to be included in the New York Fashion Week Official schedule and presented his collection at the fashion week in February and September 2017, February 2019 and February 2020. Besides preparing custom-made designs for men and women with his namesake brand, Akkaya also designs pret-a-porter products. From Spring-Summer 2013 to the present season, the de- signer’s collections included ‘Men in Black’ which, whilst dominantly black suits, had red, white, black and white, metallic yellow, and grey as well as a few women’s apparel. The black and white striped look continued in Spring-Sum- mer 2014 in suits, dresses and catsuits with pops of grey, black, brown, orange, green, gold and silver. White took over in the Spring-Summer 2015 collection in varied looks, with some black, red, grey and gold to mix it up. For Fall-Winter 2015-16, ‘Mourning’ consisted of black dresses and suits with red and turquoise velvet pieces whilst Freedom Fall-Winter 2017-18, dominantly black, featured black and white sexy pieces that broadened the vivid imag- ination. Akkaya brought back the black and white theme in Spring-Summer 2018 with a more varied casualwear of crop tops, trousers, dresses, jackets, tops, shirts, jumpsuits and eye-demanding sexy pieces. Fall-Winter 2019-20’s ‘Glamrock’ provided edgier looks in black and metallic sil- ver. The subsequent Fall-Winter collection for 2020-21 entitled ‘Justice’ showed wild inventive pieces in black such as the Dawn Dress, a long-sleeved micro pierced crepe dress with a high neck and a split in the centre from the chest to the nave and on either side with pins horizontal- ly lined. The pin look was also present in the floor- length Charity Dress in pierced crepe and fishtail Amity Dress in crepe and faux patent leather. Another sexy micro piece is the beaded pearl Abigail Dress in faux patent leather. Hakan Akkaya has dressed celebrities such as Venezuelan model Ga- briela Isler who was crowned Miss Venezuela in 2012 and Miss Universe in 2013; American media personality Oliv- ia Culpo who was Miss Rhode Island, Miss USA and Miss Universe in 2012; and Puerto Rican actress Zuleyka Rivera who won the Miss Puerto Rico Universe and Miss Universe titles in 2006. Other celebs include Janelle Monáe, Madon- na, Lady Gaga, Megan Fox, Pink, Tessa Thompson, Cher, Bebe Rexha, Gwendoline Christie and Nicole Scherzinger. https://www.hakanakkaya.com.tr