Turkey’s fashion icon
TürkçeEverybody knows who Eda Taşpınar is but can you briefly tell us about yourself anyway?
When I was 11 years old I was sent to Miami for my education. After 2 years at Boca Raton I came back to Turkey and continued my education at Robert College. Then I applied for Royal Academy. I was accepted to the Sculpture department. My grandfather was the sculptor of Atatürk and I had already learned a lot from him and frankly speaking, I did not want to spend my 7 years learning things I already knew. Later I went to London College of Fashion and Central School of St. Martins for fashion education. I improved myself in shoe and hat design, photography and styling. I had the opportunity to work as an intern at world renowned brands such as Viviene Westwood and Armani. It was an extremely busy yet very beneficial period of my life. How did you become interested in fashion and design?
In fact, for this we have to go back to by childhood. My interest in fashion has been obvious since I was very young. My mother used to dress me up and take my pictures. I remember drawing pictures of shoes when I was 6 – 7 years of age. My mother used to bring them to our shoe maker and have them made. It is possible to say that these were my first collections with names like “rainbow” or “flower”. I used to spend all my pocket money to fashion magazines and try to keep up with those posh designs. It seems that it was obvious even then.
Whenever I go somewhere with a lot of ladies
around, the way you sunbathe always comes up
as a topic of conversation. Therefore I want to
ask how do you get and maintain your sun tan…
What are the priorities of your style? What pieces are the staples of your wardrobe?
Let me start by telling that fashion is not something personal. Everybody can go to a shop and buy that dress but what makes it yours is your style. You have to lend an ear to your inner voice. And for this, you must have a good idea about who you are, be friends with the mirror and never care about what other people might say. Life is too fast and you can’t lose time by thinking what others may think. It’s true for not only your styling but also for every aspect of your life. In order not to feel any regrets, we must follow our hearts. I don’t have uniform, specific style as my mood changes every day. One day I want to feel like a wild rocker and the next day I might opt for a more classical look. My staples are the special pieces that are passed on from the family because they carry a heritage. You can buy anything from a store but a ring that my grandfather designed is priceless; even more valuable than a fancy jewelry. What would you recommend women who want to dress better? How should they make their choices?
TürkçeThey should avoid uniformity.
When we look at how things are we see that women dress up for other women. This is the greatest vicious circle; in fact women should dress up first for themselves and then for men. Because when they dress up to impress other women, they look very similar to each other. Moreover men really don’t fancy a lot of things that women like. We should not forget whom we are appealing to. There is a delicate balance there. I also recommend not buying anything just because it’s in fashion because what is in fashion now will be soon out of date. So buying ageless pieces would be a good investment in your wardrobe.
You represent a number of brands and even took part in their commercials. Have you ever dreamed of creating your own brand or do you
have such plans at the moment? Would a fashion or accessories brand named EDA be successful?
At the moment I am the brand ambassador of Pera Diamonds. At the same time I prepare collections for Warner Bros and have been involved in a number of websites. Everything has its right time and in a few months I will be taking some steps but as I said before I am not the kind of person who wants to be a sensation overnight. I want to make it happen slowly but surely…
What do you do in your spare times? Do you have any hobbies?
In fact I have many hobbies; I sculpt, I windsurf and ski. But the point I want to highlight here is sports because even my body has changed thanks to regular workout. Working out is particularly essential for our health and how we look but people are often too lazy. Women should look well groomed and beautiful at very age. Men may get a mature charm as they grow older but that’s not the case for women. Therefore we must take good care of ourselves. I regularly work out 4 – 5 days a week. Also I am a great fan of healthy eating. My astrology sign is Taurus, I really like eating therefore I must be extremely careful. 40 percent of all your efforts for a fit body is workout while the remaining 60 percent is what you eat. Everybody should workout or at least walk a lot, walking is free…
TürkçeHow would you describe İstanbul to someone who has never seen the city?
İstanbul is a magical city but it is very difficult to put in words. It has to be experienced. Many of my friends and I believe that İstanbul is magical with a mixture of bohemian, eclectic and luxury which produces an incredible energy.
We asked Eda’s friends to describe her in 3 words.
TürkçeŞebnem Seçkin : Difficult, precious, the embodiment of love…
Melisa Çakarlar: A true friend, disciplined and always cool Özlem Özbay: Natural, sincere, positive, trustworthy Elvan Tığlıoğlu: Trustworthy, positive…
She is keen on values and knows herself very well..
İLKBAHAR 2013 SPRING 2013
The nickname “İkoncan” (dear icon) has been like a second name for you. Maybe even a brand name. Everybody knows you with that nickname. What does it mean, how did it come about and how does it feel to be known as “İkoncan”?
We used to go to my friend Ender’s Buz Bar. One day he said, “Everyone thinks you’re an icon. I always add ‘dear’ to people’s names so let’s call you ‘dear icon’ from now on”… As we were leaving the bar, one of my friends yelled “ikoncan” from behind and the paparazzi waiting in front of the bar heard this. It has actually gone beyond being a nick name and became a proper adjective in the dictionary. In fact I don’t really think that “ikoncan”reflects who I am. I believe putting labels on people is not a good thing because there is more to all of us than what we seem to be.
Once again I am going to talk about my childhood and I’m afraid it’s getting kind of boring. I spent my childhood at Moda Marine Club where my mother and friends used to lay side by side and sunbathe all day long. My mother always put sun cream on me but I used to wipe it off with a towel and put on my mother’s cream. There was a great cream called Negrita. What I mean by this is we want to repeat what we have seen as a child. Of course I am well aware and informed about the harmful effects of the sun. I know I have to be careful and I am not as rebellious as I was in the past. I realized that this was unnecessary anyway. Everyone please put on sun protection before sunbathing! And we have to be extremely careful about our faces. I have some special mixtures and of course I am planning a little surprise for the coming year.