Through surmising and reworking familiar tropes, Akyol repositioned femininity as an act of resilience. He listed a host of feminine details and silhouettes. There were basques rendered in exaggerated proportions. There was his eponymous cowl draping at the hips on sinuous gowns. His signature tailoring was present in a scoop-neck blazer – originally introduced in Spring-Summer 2025 – with a narrow waistline. Akyol bifurcated references to his heritage: on a personal level, he recalled his grandmother’s style, with a smattering of faux fur jackets making an appearance on the runway. On a cultural note, he printed jacquards with patterns borrowed from traditional Turkish carpets. He rounded out the offering with ethereal mousseline dresses.
“There are so many types of women in the world that I didn’t want to categorize them. It’s about offering them a space where they can be multiple and plural,” said the designer, calling from his work bench, where he was still conceptualising new designs for the collection.
What would you like us to know about the collection?
I don’t know if autobiographical is the right word but it’s always a personal take on something that I’m feeling at the moment. With everything that’s happening in the world, we cannot be tone deaf to anything as designers.
This collection is called ‘Femme,’ because of a few episodes in my own life where I had to suppress my femininity. Luckily, I grew up as a gay kid surrounded by women who encouraged me to be myself. When I was a student, I used to wear makeup, I would wear lipstick, and I would wear heels. Unfortunately, I have had a few homophobic episodes in my life that made me aware of my femininity and in a way that made it feel unacceptable. With everything that’s happening in the United States with women’s bodies being subject to male opinion, it made me ask myself, do I have any legitimacy in talking about femininity from a woman’s point of view? I don’t think so. As men, we should stop talking about it. But, femininity is inspiring to me and I wanted to express aspects of my own femininity. It brought me to this fun space that is almost camp.
It’s your first season on the womenswear schedule. What do you hope to bring?
I’m focusing on what I want to offer in terms of womenswear. If I’m going to talk about women, I want to speak to the one that I would love to be. I was playing with the idea of the bourgeois, the drag, and the performing of femininity.
However, like any collection, it’s an artisanal process because I make clothes every day. I have a point of view and I want to be as personal as possible with it. Of course, it’s exciting because it’s Paris Fashion Week; people are going to pay more attention to it, but I don’t want to pollute my process with this in mind. I’m proud and happy that my application was successful and it challenges you, like every collection, to show the best of yourself. And also, it’s a deadline to keep in mind [laughs].
What else is new for Fall-Winter?
To add to the universe I’m building, we’ve started a homewares collaboration with Cache, a fellow Turkish brand. [There are] bathrobes, carpets, bed linens, and towels. In Turkey, the first thing you do when you set up a home is to lay down carpets because you need to host people and welcome your friends.
Do trends still matter?
With the quiet luxury bullshit that I’m tired of hearing about – it’s so boring and conservative – we are seeing a poverty of design. As designers, we are becoming less generous when we offer pieces. With a show, you’re sharing a vision and if you’re not complete, raw, and open about everything that you love about designing for the sake of reduction, then there’s nothing left, and we all end up doing the same camel coat. I’m not really into that.
Could you suggest a mantra?
Resilience. Never take no as an answer. You will always find the solution or resources.
This interview has been lightly edited.
