Zeynep Agirbas has recently graduated from Textile Design BA at Central Saint Martins. Her primary intention with her graduate collection ‘Psychedelic Anatolia’, and consequently with all the pieces she creates, is to curate a beautifully intricate knitted collection of long lasting garments inherently driven by rich narratives. Coming from a Turkish background, Zeynep had developed an extreme respect for handicraft trying to learn various hand-making skills. This knowledge of technical handicraft was always combined with her endless curiosity for material and experimentation.

Her graduate collection ‘Psychedelic Anatolia’ revolves around a character she’s created to reconnect with her cultural heritage. This character epitomizes everything that an Anatolian nomadic woman stands for - hard-working, self-sufficient, resourceful, driven, creative. However, there’s a twist - she is also a Turkish psychedelic rockstar.

Psychedelic Anatolia is a manifestation of the Turkish culture and craft, a story that she tells through her garments. To translate the handcraft of Anatolia she used hand-making techniques as well as collaborated with Turkish artisans to truly reflect the feel of Anatolian craft. Delving into her second theme - psychedelic rock, she’slooking into 60s and 70s that have embraced leather clothing of the rockstars inspired by unique folkloric costumes, intricate embellishments, exaggerated jewellery and graphic illusive qualities of the psychedelic posters.

The collection explores the amalgamation of different textures and colours inspired by these two themes. Each garment is designed to be layered - sustaining both the utilitarian needs of the nomad as well as the provocative, rebellious nature of a rockstar.For instance, woollen felted knits protect the nomad from the extremities of weather in the mountains during the day and are layered with overly accessorised tops below for the stage at night.