From the gardens and landscapes of Anatolia to the runway of London Fashion Week, Turkish designer Neslişah Yılmaz is telling a story of home through fashion.
On Sept. 19, Yılmaz presented Barrus’ latest collection, “The Anatolian Garden – Anadolu Bahçesi,” as part of Fashion Britain, drawing on the colors, textures and cultural layers of Anatolia while translating them into a contemporary wardrobe.
Speaking to Daily Sabah after the show, Yılmaz described this season as one of her most personal presentations in London.
“London has always been very special for Barrus, but this collection had a different emotion for me,” she says. “I was bringing something very close to home to London.”
The starting point was Anatolia – although Yılmaz was determined not to approach it through the most obvious references.
Rather than directly reproducing traditional motifs or historical dress, she looked at Anatolia as a vast garden shaped by different civilizations, landscapes, colors and cultural memories.
“For me, Anatolia is like an endless garden,” Yılmaz explains. “There are so many different cultures, flowers, colors and stories within it. I wanted to take that feeling and translate it into the language of the modern Barrus woman.”
That interpretation appeared throughout the collection in a constant play between contrasts.
Structured corsetry was paired with fluid fabrics; defined silhouettes appeared alongside softer draping and movement. Floral applications, embroidery, textures and detailed handwork added depth to pieces designed to reveal more when viewed closely.
Yılmaz says craftsmanship remains particularly important to her at a time when the fashion industry is moving at an increasingly rapid pace.
“I love the idea that when you come closer to a dress, you discover something you didn’t see at first,” she says. “It can be an embroidery, a texture or a small handmade detail. I think the human touch is becoming even more precious in fashion.”
The contrasts within the collection also reflect the woman Yılmaz has imagined through Barrus over the years: feminine without being fragile, confident without losing softness.
When a dress carries another meaning
The runway also carried a message beyond fashion.
Businesswoman Esra Oflaz opened the Barrus show wearing a specially created design whose proceeds from its sale will be donated to TEGV – Educational Volunteers Foundation of Türkiye, supporting children’s education in Türkiye.
For Yılmaz, it became one of the defining moments of the presentation.
“Fashion gives us visibility,” she says. “If we can use that visibility to support something meaningful, even through one dress, then that piece suddenly carries a completely different value.”
The international character of the show continued throughout the presentation. Juliet Mayhew closed the runway, while Lady Amelia Windsor and Lady Victoria Hervey were among the guests.
For Yılmaz, seeing an international audience gathered in London for a collection whose story began in Anatolia captured exactly what she hoped to achieve.
“A collection inspired by Anatolia was being presented by a Turkish designer in London to people from completely different cultures,” she says. “That is one of the things I love most about fashion. You can tell a story without needing to translate every word.”
Yılmaz founded Barrus in 2015, and London soon became an important part of the label’s international development.
Her years working between Türkiye and Britain have also shaped her understanding of what it means to build an international fashion identity.
For Yılmaz, international recognition does not require a designer to distance themselves from where they come from. If anything, she believes the opposite.
“I think I understood this more clearly over the years,” she says. “Being international doesn’t mean losing your identity. The stronger your own story is, the more interesting it can become to someone from another part of the world.”
London, with its long tradition of embracing both heritage and experimentation, has provided a natural setting for that philosophy.
This season, being part of Fashion Britain during London Fashion Week added another layer to that relationship – placing a Turkish designer and an Anatolian-inspired collection within a wider celebration of fashion in the U.K.
Yılmaz’s approach to fashion is also influenced by an unusual combination of disciplines. After studying textile and fashion design, she continued her academic work with a master’s degree in nanotechnology design.
That background has encouraged her to look beyond the appearance of textiles and explore how craftsmanship, innovation and technology can coexist.
“I don’t think we need to choose between tradition and innovation,” she says. “For me, the interesting part is bringing them together.”
Yet after months of design, fittings and preparations, it was not technology or technique that Yılmaz says she thought about when the London show finally ended.
It was the journey.
“A collection can start from a flower you remember, a place you’ve seen or simply a feeling,” she says. “Then it becomes a sketch. Many people work on it, many hands touch it, and eventually that idea walks onto a runway in another country.”
For “The Anatolian Garden,” that journey stretched from Türkiye to London.
And for a few minutes under the lights of London Fashion Week, a little piece of Anatolia traveled with it.
