Istanbul Fashion Week 2011 is on its way

Istanbul Fashion Week 2011 (IFW) is going to be held from September 7-11 in the old city of Beyoğlu, in the Turkish capital city of Istanbul.

The event will let designers from Turkey and its surrounding areas showcase their fashion innovations. The antiquity of the city, according to some Turkish designers, is what gives Istanbul the potential to rise to the top in its region.

Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters’ Association (ITKIB), the organizers of IFW, and the Fashion Designers Association, have a new goal in mind: to establish the city as the fashion capital of the region.

IFW was first held in 2009 under the name Istanbul Fashion Days, but its name was later changed in February 2010 after it got registered with the World Fashion Calendar.

Since its debut in 2009, IFW has been an opportunity for Istanbul-based designers to display their work for the global fashion press and connect with global markets in the hope of putting Istanbul in the ranks of fashion hotspots such as New York, Paris, Milan and London. But the organizers of this year’s IFW, the Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters’ Association, or ITKIB, and the Fashion Designers Association, have narrowed the scope of their goal, aiming instead to instate Istanbul as the regional leader in fashion.

Through the IFW, Istanbul-based fashion designers get an opportunity to showcase their work before the global media and connect with the global markets.