Beymen’s 50th Anniversary Exhibition Featuring Major Luxury Fashion Houses Unfolds In Istanbul
The exhibition showcases exclusive pieces that pay homage to Türkiye’s rich history and culture
Born in Istanbul, a city full of contrasts and one alive with art, music, culture, and heritage, Beymen opened its first store in Şişli in 1971, before growing to become Türkiye’s leading luxury fashion and lifestyle retailer. To commemorate its milestone 50th anniversary, the now-iconic department store with branches throughout the country called for something beyond a mere celebration; focusing instead on an international project that shines a spotlight on the country’s 500-year history of luxury and reimagines it for contemporary audiences. Through a trilogy approach encompassing an exhibition, a coffee table book, and a documentary, this rich tapestry is brought to life, blending past, present, and future.
“The tale of this momentous celebration, destined to leave an indelible mark, draws inspiration from an ambitious project befitting Beymen’s legacy”, says CEO of Beymen’s owner Mayhoola for Investments LLC and also chair of Valentino and Balmain Rachid Mohamed Rachid. “As it leaves behind half a century, Beymen foregoes a conventional celebration for its 50th anniversary. Instead, the company has orchestrated a significant endeavour, assembling more than 100 experts, encompassing academics, historians, artists, museum directors, writers and through two years of meticulous research carried out by these experts, a multidimensional global project has emerged: a special exhibition located at Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Center in Istanbul, a documentary and an extraordinary Golden Opulence book by Assouline that both carry and preserve the abundant cultural heritage of these lands.”
Istanbul’s internationalism and status as a meeting ground between Europe and Asia saw it labelled as the ‘centre of the whole universe’ in the eighteenth century; an epithet captured by the global remit of the anniversary celebrations. For the aptly titled Golden Opulence exhibition curated by journalist and author Laurence Bénaïm, Beymen invited fifty global luxury fashion brands including foremost Turkish designers, to contribute masterpieces inspired by the history of luxury in Türkiye. Each Maison received a guide, shaped by an advisory committee of academics, historians, artists, museum directors, and authors, designed to identify key elements of the 500-year legacy embracing objects, jewellery, accessories, textile and manuscript motifs, and decorative elements.
Exclusive creations include a standout piece by Dilek Hanif featuring ethereal tulle and taffeta and a closely fitted top embellished with authentic Ottoman embroidery. The garment’s material, colour, and use of gold and oxidized copper are testament to its historic references. Elsewhere, Alexander McQueen creates a trench dress reconstructed in black poly faille fabric, featuring goldwork and sequin embroidery;Aquazzura a pair of evening shoes featuring star shaped jewels on the upper with anchor points are enriched with jewels forming celestial moons, suns, golden and silver crescents; Victoria Beckham an elevated embroidered and draped trench coat embroidered by hand with crystals and feathers, and Sergio Rossi a pair of evening shoes made from tan Chizoba leather and featuring gold-tone metallic studs and ostrich and pheasant feathers.
Balmain Creative Director Olivier Rousteing dazzles with an evening dress and a velvet men’s suit featuring a fusion of light turquoise velvet and tapestry print velvet. Hand embroidered and embellished with a plethora of strass, beads and sequins, the two creations mimic the look and feel of a rich yet slightly aged tapestry texture. “This special collection for Beymen builds directly upon that singular legacy of Monsieur Balmain,” says Rousteing. “For these designs, my team and I have channeled the renowned splendour of the finest Ottoman artisans, with Türkiye’s rich heritage reflected in this capsule’s incredible fabrics, beads, jewels and embroideries — and we’ve used all of that beauty to embellish the precise Parisian tailoring, sharp cuts and impressive volumes for which Balmain has long been celebrated.”
Valentino Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli also envisages an homage to Turkish culture and the poetic beauty of Istanbul with a four-metre maxi cape and gown featuring intricate tulip embroidery. “I interpreted my homage to Beymen’s half century as a gift and a dialogue”, he says. I took the best of my Valentino contemporary and historical scenario — volumes, feathers, textures, color, identity — and adorned it with a Turkish romantic symbol, the tulips. Those two tulips are just like two lovers chasing each other on the Bosphorus.”
Archival pieces, from the collections of Gönül Paksoy, Lucien Arkas and Şadiye Ulusoy are also showcased as a means of palpably paving the way between past and present. Restored and beautifully curated, they demonstrate the adornment, function, harmony, lines and curves that have underwritten their successors and show the origin of pieces including the caftan, pants, and slippers so that the notion of luxury becomes not only a celebration of heritage but a living, breathing, dynamic concept that continues to adapt and grow. “Between Europe and Asia, this exhibition reinvents the cartography of a dream in an extraordinary city where the past, present, and future are always connected”, says exhibition curator and book author Laurence Bénaïm. “Istanbul’s history is made up of a thousand others, its Byzantine and Ottoman heritage feeds on all the influences that make this megalopolis a cosmopolitan city, where history and the present collide.”
The architectural exhibition space at Tophane-i Amire Culture and Art Center, with historical significance dating back to the fifteenth century and a unique military turned arts function, is metamorphosed into a futuristic palace by renowned production firm Bureau Betak. The juxtaposition of past and present is heightened by the use of light boxes and polished, reflective surfaces that capture the architecture of the past and the modernity of contemporary creations in a single gaze. “Here, history is reflected in the present, tradition is renewed in transmission”, continues Bénaïm. “And Tophane-i Amire, a former factory of weaponry founded by Sultan Mehmet II, stands out as the arsenal of wonder. Between pageantry and graphics are dresses, kaftans, suits and everyday objects adorned with enchantment rooted in history.”
Exhibition runs until December 15th; the book Golden Opulence: 500 Years of Luxuriant Style is available at Assouline.
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