About GOKSU

Goksu is a fashion designer & stylist from Ankara, Turkey. Since she was a child, so long ago that she can’t remember but saw from photographs, she likes color, fancy textures and most importantly DIY projects. She had a childhood where she was surrounded by her own art materials and toys; sitting on the floor, cutting, glueing, painting materials… she believes this is why her art is her safe space that got her through a lot. She won various prizes in painting and drawing competitions throughout her primary and middle school years. 

In 2011, as a determined 14 year old, she moved to Istanbul with her mother, Bilge Guneylioglu, to continue her high school education at Istanbul Uskudar High School and this is how she got to participate various art courses to learn fashion sketching, portfolio design & fine art drawing. She continued her drawing lessons at Articona Studios until 2014, later that year she took lessons for portfolio & sketching from a former graduate of her school, Turku Sahin until she successfully submitted her portfolio in July 2015. 

She enrolled in ITU-FIT Fashion Design Dual Diploma Program the same year and after a year of intense English classes, she started her education as a proud fashion designer in 2016. She learned sewing, draping and patterning as well as some textile engineering by participating in every event about textiles. As her schools required, she studied in 2 universities from different cities, cultures and languages. Amused with the similarities in cultures and lost in their differences, moving back and forth for school was exhausting but exciting for her; after the first three semesters in Istanbul, Goksu moved to NYC for 7 months in 2018 and graduated in 2020, after studying in Istanbul one more year and coming back to NYC for the senior year. She participated in ITU Fashion Show in May 2019 and showcased “Freud’s Wardrobe”, a two piece collection designed and made with help from her mentor Nihan Topaloglu. As a pandemic graduate, she finished her thesis project “Playground” by hand in her home art studio and this project was one of the 75 that was chosen for FIT Future of Fashion Graduation Show, which was not held due to the pandemic. 

She had a lot of free time to explore her creative side without deadlines or guidelines and she used it to improve her home art studio for more projects. Meanwhile, her thesis project got published in Vogue article by Laird Borrelli-Persson and weeks later Kirsten McGovern got in touch with her to style her design in “NY Doll” photoshoot, published in Vulkan Mag. Curious & excited, Goksu offered to assist the shoot and met photographer Sarah Lenoir, who became a good friend that photographed many photoshoots for Goksu, including her first photoshoot “Layers” that featured high fashion model Ayinla Tunde and published in Malvie Mag. After a while, she began designing and making her first collection that consisted of 12 designs and each in 3 sizes as well as an upcycled collection, this process taught her not only better skills in her craft but also business side of the fashion and she created a business plan for herself. She then found models and photographers and formed a production team to put on a fashion show in her friend’s Manhattan apartment in March 2021. These two projects brought some strong network to Goksu, but soon after she discovered this side of fashion that was not taught in school, she had to close her home studio in June 2021 and move everything in a storage; taking some time from designing due to unexpected life altering circumstances. Even though she didn’t have a studio, in order to keep her skills sharp, she got some barbie dolls and after making tiny clothing patterns, she designed and made a few tiny pieces. She couldn’t design a new collection but she got to participate in “StylePointe NYFW Fashion & Dance Show” in September 2021 with her previous designs and this was her last fashion project until she was asked to style for “Lady Earth” photoshoot that was published in Artells Magazine in June 2022, for a model she worked with for “The Tiny Fashion Show” the year before. Working with clothes again fueled her determination and inspired her for upcoming fashion projects, leading her to style and upcycle garments for two photoshoots, “Last day in Closet” and “Up-Styled”, both were photographed by Sarah Lenoir in August 2022, published in Seline and Shuba Magazines. She then styled for “Popping Photoshoot” that was photographed by Robert Perez and featured Kayra Thedore. In the first half of 2023, Goksu designed for and showcased collections in “FDL x NYFW Fashion Show” and styled costumes for Eddie Dougrou’s short movie “Buddy”. She also styled 2 looks for “Shapes of Color”, a delightful photoshoot photographed by Brandon J Ramones and published in LadyGunn Magazine. Meanwhile she worked as the assistant designer for N’Onat Atelier and was responsible for photoshoots, quality control and shipping. In June 2023, Goksu designed her first bodysuit collection for FDL Pride Month Fashion Show. Later same year, she provided costumes for Gregg Golding’s movie “Pulldown 3:2” and styled 7 unconventional outfits for “Fashion Forever” power photoshoot held by MSNY, including one look that was styled last minute for an extra model. She then participated in planning of their fashion & entertainment show as a fashion director, however she parted ways with her mentor months later. Meanwhile, she met Connie Danger, a musician with extraordinary style and made two bespoke costumes for his colorful stage wardrobe. In February 2024, she designed her most beloved collection “Cotton”, that was showcased in Rain Production Fashion Show. 

One time she got contacted by a casting director from the Netflix show “Next in Fashion” and they offered her a part in this project as a fashion designer, however a few weeks and many emails later both parties realized she was not ready for this responsibility yet. After a long break from fashion and art, she got to have some time to meet hidden parts of her artist personality and her interest grew in different disciplines such as product and accessory design so she applied for SVA Products of Design Master Program and got accepted but decided not to go later. Other than these glamorous projects and a few plans that didn’t go as expected, Goksu designed various pieces for friends and clients including a cute pug. She also provided collections for two upcoming brands and styled wardrobes for individuals. Her inspiration is everything that sparks an emotion and she’s amused by puzzles; that’s the base of her art. She believes the Turkish language has a big effect on her creative thinking process, she loves Turkish culture and is looking for ways to integrate it to her work whether it’s a song, a movie, a tradition or local garments. She enjoys experimenting with shapes and textures; the more she designed, the more she learned about her artists self and couldn’t help but explored and practiced basics of other visual art mediums such as fine art, accessories design and product design; most of which was for her fashion projects. She believes that world is full of inspirations for someone who knows how to see them and the intention of highlighting or expressing these inspirations is what she calls “making art”. This is why nowadays her art includes various mediums she thinks is best for her to express specific inspirations she sees: from designing clothes to writing short movies, art directing to studying sounds, woodworking to resin and clay…