Busé

Grey Sheep

@buse.ozler

Location

new york / united states

University

pratt institute

Graduation year

2019

Contact

Buse Özler is a Turkish designer who was born in the United States. She spent her early life in London and grew up in Istanbul. In 2012, she moved back to United States and is now attending the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and studying Fashion Design. Her lifetime dream was to become a fashion designer and eventually have her own brand. Özler started her own small business in 2016 (www.buseozler.com) where she sells handmade items and her collections. She has interned with fashion houses such as Vera Wang, Marchesa, Phillip Lim and Rick Owens and have also interned with a showroom and boutique, motivated to learn all aspects of the business. Leaning towards geometric and bold designs, the designer enjoys timeless pieces with neutrals and pops of color. Her attention to detail is seen all through her designs and her own style. A love for handwork has pushed her towards couture pieces and it shows in handmade details of her work. Motivated to present her customers with comfortable, modern and intricate pieces that will last a lifetime due to their high quality and durable materials and perfect construction is the designer’s goal. Özler has always enjoyed drawing inspiration from her Turkish culture, nature and architecture. Her love for surface design and digital illustration adds to her multi-dimensional abilities. She’s excited to bring her creativity, problem solving abilities and positive attitude to the work place. Özler’s future aspiration is to make a difference in the industry by challenging norms and discovering new paths. She’s in search of businesses that will widen her horizon and help her get closer to her future aspiration.

Latest Collection

LOKUM

As a Turkish artist who was born in the United States, I had the privilege of living in two very different countries and I've been exposed to different cultures. Turkey is a very classicist country so unfortunately, I wasn't immersed in the Turkish culture while I was living there. We weren't taught to embrace or celebrate it. Instead, the culture was something correlated with the lower class, and celebrating the Turkish culture was seen as something demeaning. I realized this when I moved to the US back in 2012. This was the time when I started visiting Turkey as a "tourist" and did touristy things like eating local foods, visiting the Grand Bazaar and the mosques and eating breakfast in the Bosphorus etc. (the stuff I wouldn't do as a local). So, my current work is me reclaiming my Turkish culture and celebrating it by combining it with my culture here in the States. This is me realizing that my culture is something that can enrich me rather than impoverish me. The collection has traditional aspects to it, as I had local fabrics and goods shipped to me directly from Istanbul, Turkey. I received traditional headscarves that has been in my family for decades, later I repurposed them and turned them into custom fabrics. I also had custom shoes made; a combination of contemporary sneakers with traditional Turkish hammam sandals attached to the bottom. But the collection is also contemporary and far from costume-looking, something that is a risk that comes with taking inspiration from tradition and culture. I'm hoping that through what I'm doing, the middle and high class will finally see the beauty in Turkish culture and reclaim it and celebrate it themselves and people who haven't been exposed to the culture can feel interested in the collection and appreciate it as well.