Turkish fashion finds its home among relics

ANTIQUE: Çukurcuma is hosting over 150 antique shops. A candelabra engraved with the official signature of an Ottoman sultan is tough to find anywhere else. In above workshop one can find one-of-a-kind hats and handbags from softcotton fabrics.

Discover new Istanbul, the one Europeans fantasize about: Spend an afternoon in Çukurcuma, the city’s hip bohemian district, where tapestries and neon rock-n-roll signs mix with sultan-signed candelabras and mirrors lined with fading starlets

KRISTEN STEVENS
ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Tucked into the beating heart of Istanbul's style-savvy Beyoğlu quarter, Çukurcuma (pronounced chu-KUR-ju-ma) expresses itself by casting off East-meets-West clichés and peeling back layers of history to reveal designers with a fresh, minimalist sensibility.

With the charm of an old neighborhood flea market in an upscale café and gallery district, the area was once home to a large Greek community. Many shop owners are descendents of non-Turkish residents whose families have inhabited the area for centuries.

Hosting over 150 antique shops, this is not an average stroll through antiquity. A candelabra engraved with the official signature of an Ottoman sultan is tough to find anywhere else. Some shops are bursting with Ottoman-era odds and ends and Turkish cultural memorabilia. Beside them are avant-garde art workshops and high fashion boutiques.

The history of Çukurcuma dates back 550 years and came of age when Ottomans lived here during the rule of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. Part of Pera and Beyoğlu, those who enter Çukurcuma will find the 16th century Çukurcuma Mosque, a masterpiece by Turkey's own Michelangelo, architect Mimar Sinan. Across the street is the 18th century Ömer Ağa Fountain set beside Iskeceli coffee house. This is a good place to get the charge needed to enter this labyrinth of a residential shopping quarter that is part relic, part ahead of its time.

Beneath the terraces of French colonial townhouses the color of smog, unassuming storefronts conceal sleek contemporary ateliers and shops and galleries that could easily find themselves in New York's Soho. But upon closer inspection, these daring young designers are uniquely Turkish and are creating a space, a chic, that is all their own. The antique legacy of the neighborhood shares the same snaky streets with the up-and-comers, revealing antique treasures and odd collectibles.

Another entry point can be reached from the green mosque (Yeşil Cami) in the center of Cihangir. Walk toward the fruit stall before the road bends downhill and walk against the one-way street called Ağa Hamam Cad. When it bends to the left, Çukurcuma begins on the street ahead and cascades along streets to the left.

Tourists used to buy antique knives and pistols at the bend in the road where Levantine (33 Ağa Hamam Cad.) greets visitors like a gourmet candy shop for collectors. �Technology and minimalism, this is the fashion today,� Melih Gülay told the Turkish Daily News. Otherwise, he said not much has changed in the historical neighborhood since he took over his father's shop in 1975. �The costumes and hairdos have changed and the buildings have new make-up, but fashion's latest adherents also seek objects to define their style.

Generally purchasing objects from Greek, Armenian, Italian and French estates, Gülay recounted the history of rosary beads he pulled from his drawer made from whale bone. He said they retained a rare scent believed to have been used as an aphrodisiac at the turn of the century.

Taking the first street to the left one arrives at Mine Kerse's atelier (Faik Paşa Yokuşu, No 1). In a workshop above her tiny shop, she makes one-of-a-kind hats and handbags from soft cotton fabrics. Her hats which range from YTL 110 to 145 impress with her devotion to original lines and warm tones.

Down a couple of doors also on the left is Nahide Büyükkaymakçı's gallery-like shop (Faik Paşa Yokuşu, No 7) that illuminates hanging bodices to draw the eye to artistic clothing design. His shop features a rack of specially designed leather jackets, backlit tortoise shell jewelry and handbags so chic that they would make someone wearing a uni-tard or a sheet look cool. The black stenciled floor opens onto a generous patio that faces the steam and bulbous rooftop of a turn-of-the-century hamam.

Germans and Russians used to find plenty of Ottoman buyers, said Mehmet Koşedağ, who sells many such items a little further down the street on the right. �Everything here awaits a specific buyer and sooner or later they find one,'' said Koşedağ, who is known to have played a major role in the shaping of Çukurcuma's appeal among collectors. Beside a miniature diner jukebox, old scissors, puppets, buttons, boxes and oil lamps can be found amid the clutter of Tombak II (Faik Paşa Yokuşu, No: 34/A).

On the right, the window of Minyatür Deniz Eskisi appears like a deep-sea diver's found treasure chest. Inside a maritime aroma hovers over ship wheels, maps, and antique naval pieces such as diving suits, telescopes and compasses.

As if pulled from a Paris side street, Kiki Çay Evi (Faik Paşa Sokak 30/A) is a warm alcove under a chandelier made of old teapots baking up cookies, tiramisu and cheesecakes served with gourmet teas. Across from Kiki Café, a man was bent over large machinery caressing the feminine leg of an antique chair. This is one of many restoration shops in the area using old production methods and antique materials.

Backstreet boom time

Suspended in time is Leyla Seyhanlı's shop, a trunk-sized boutique packed with old clothing, between 250-300 hats, hat boxes, embroidery, linens and purses. Seyhanlı has been sharing her decades-old romance with woven fabric and old textiles in Çukurcuma since 1986. Her 100-year-old Ottoman caftans and tunics are stunning. She also provides costumes and accessories for the film industry. Fabrics date between 18th and late-19th centuries (Altıpatlar Sok. No 10).

Modernist local interior design guru Halide Didem showcases the city's nouveau identity at Halide D (Turnacıbaşı Sokak 71, www.halided.com). Alice in Wonderland inspires lamps the shape of apples and colored tiles reinvent coffee tables.

�Eski Fener� (Old Lantern), located on Çukurcuma Ağahamam Street offers wooden antiques ranging from carved tables and chests to ornate Ottoman doors. Owner Murat Çete said he serves not only antique lovers but also people buying objects for music clips or TV serials. �Our prices are reasonable,� he said. �The demand is keeping us afloat.�

For an alternative to the regular grind, try one of the coffee shops that provide tarot card and coffee cup readings for the price of coffee. Head up hill from Turnacibasi Caddesi onto Ayhan Isik Sokak where a few cafes house fortunetellers seated outside on the patios or in the backrooms, wherever customers prefer their psychic coffee. (Melekler Kahvesi Ayhan Isik Sokak No 36 and Kadinlar Kahvesi across the way)

If a bloodhound for elusive shopping districts one is not, ask anyone in to direct one to the famed Galatasaray High School along İstiklal in Taksim � it's a five or 10 minute walk down the hill from there.

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