Project title: ‘Come, no matter what you are’  -Turkey
Selected for scholarships 2009-2010, Course of Fashion Design, School of Fashion, IED Milan

Mevlana is very important philosopher in Turkiye.
According to Mevlana, love is the only thing necessary to attain God. A plant or an animal may also love, but it is only man who has the capacity to love with his body, mind, thoughts and memory. Mevlana exalts the state of being in love with a woman because if someone loves someone else, he also loves himself, humanity, the universe and God.

The most beautiful love, “Love of Truth,” begins when someone reaches this level of wisdom. Followers of Mevlana (Mevlevi) spin around and around in a ritual called ’sema’. This ritual symbolizes a world united in love and keeping step with the world’s universal rotation. While one of their hands points to the sky, the other hand points to the ground meaning “Love from God spreads to the earth”. The spirit bursts forth from God and is immortal. The sound of the nay (a reed flute) tells of man’s longing to return to his initial source

He means that the universe is an endless place within the existence of God, and as a small part of the whole, man keeps that divine essence inside him by saying, “You who search for God, it’s you that you’re searching for….”
Come, no matter what you are,
Whether atheist or sun worshipper.
Whether you’ve backslid a thousand times,
Come, no matter what you are.

As we see, all mankind are brothers, and differences between religions do not square well with the divine presence. Mevlana attaches great importance to women and maintains that men and women are equal, saying, “The more you insist women should cover themselves up, the more you incite people’s desire to see them.
After the all of this information, my ‘my country’ subject is the ’sema’ rituels and their clothes are my inspirations. My insprations are also another poets in my country like Attila Ilhan and Murathan Mungan. Their words are in my tshirts. And they talk about love and separation. They are very popular and important poets in Turkish Literature.

Turkiye is the very beatiful and exciting country in the world. There are so many reasons for saying this. I choosed one of them. And love is universal feeling of world. Certainly love means different for everybody. It’s also available in Turkiye. But i am saying that this is another perpective of love. Come and see as Mevlana saying that.
Come and see, no matter who you are.