The Character-Driven Poly-Invention of a Turkish Fashion Voice 

Nomadic, trilingual, young, sexy, tattooed, multi-talented (evidenced by a past life in fashion photography), award-winning, and a bevy more illustrious adjectives describe Umit Benan, the thirty-year-old Turkish designer who’s altering the state of menswear in Milan with his inventive proportions that mix traditional structured tailoring and refined fabrics with modern familiarity. A staple is low crotch pants with details such as checkered shirt lining or cotton-silk shirts with rouching or pleating detail. Contrasts and surprises such as these make Benan’s clothing fun and fresh, yet with a backdrop of tradition through elegant cuts in tuxedo jackets and sportcoats, they become timeless and instantly wearable. We caught up with him while he was in New York for fashion week, finding inspiration in the characters of the city for his next collection, which will be his fifth so far.

You always base every collection off of a character. There was the young pre-revolution Cuban businessman, the retired rockers, and then the Turkish gentlemen lounging at coffee shops. Where do these characters come from? 

For each collection, I have a character in mind, and I create a world around them, writing their lifestyle and every single detail that makes them who they are. After that, it allows me to be very specific in designing their wardrobe. But finding characters… I can’t tell you. I get a lot of inspiration from my dad. I’m very inspired by contrast, and all the characters that I have are very masculine, which allows me to put feminine features into the clothing. I like the combination of masculine-feminine because of my women’s wear background [Marc Jacobs, Sophie Theallet, and Motu Tane by François Nars]. 

How would you describe the Umit Benan man?

Definitely very masculine, very aggressive, very confident; he loves; he’s very peaceful with himself. He has a lot of people around him, but he’s lonely at the same time. He is very close to his family. He is a man who just likes to have fun with dressing up, not taking himself too seriously, perhaps going to work in pajamas. 

Having lived in Istanbul, Switzerland, London, New York, and Milan, which is your favorite city? You’re in Milan now… Where do you go next?

New York City is by far my favorite, but after Milan, I think I have two options. New York, if I’m single by then. Paris, if I’m still with the woman I love.

So, you mention contrast as being something that’s very important to you. Turkey is in between the East and the West. By being Turkish, you’re in the midst of a constant cultural exchange; how did this shape your Spring 2011 “Home Sweet Home” collection?

Well, having been born there, I find that Istanbul is perhaps the city with the most contrast, as Turkey is a Muslim country full of radical Muslims, but still there are many of us Sons of Ataturk who are very modern. And Istanbul is the city where half is Europe and half Asia. So, this creates extreme contrast within the country, which I extract so much from. In all of my work you see contrast. That’s what really makes me happy, to present and try to get people to see contrasts in the world. 

This season I did a Turkish collection. I wanted traditional men wearing modern clothing. I got a lot of great reviews after the show, and they said, ‘Are you going to go on with this style? We feel that this is where you belong.’ But people don’t really know who I am. I am Turkish, but I like several other cultures, too. I like to have fun. Really, I have no idea where fashion’s going, what colors and shapes are big. The way I like to work is to look for details or messages that people are not normally looking for.

What makes life worth living?

Love and hate, family, kids, fashion; waffles with chocolate, bananas, and strawberries; a good night out in New York, meeting people.

Lastly, what exactly is the infamous story of you being discriminated against due to your beard in Milan? Does this still happen? I feel like this might have already become a myth…

It’s happening all around. It happened lately again while I was driving to France. They did not let me in! And I asked, ‘Why is it that I can’t enter France?’ He kept saying, ‘Go back to Italy!’ Then I entered from Switzerland.