The Five Questions We Ask Everyone: Student Fashion Designer, Su Beyazit

Su on the right, Su's dress on the left. Hotness.

CollegeCandy loves lots of things, but two of our favorites? Fashion Week and terrific, creative college girls.

By Melanie

And guess what? There’s one fabulous female who brings our two favorite things together (besides peanut butter and chocolate): student and fashion designer, the lovely Su Beyazit.

Su, who hails from North Carolina and has ties to Turkey, resides in the Lower East Side of NYC and attends the New School (oh hey, Project Runway!) studying Integrated Design. Yes, she’s sick of answering, but indeed she has met Tim Gunn and was in an elevator with Miss Klum.

“She’s tall,” Su said of the encounter with Heidi, “Really tall.”

Su’s most recent design was spotted on “As the World Turns” star, Meredith Hagner on the red carpet for the daytime Emmy awards. Twenty two years old and already designing for the red carpet? Color me impressed.

I met with Su at a vegan cafe in the Lower East Side where we discussed fashion, grafitti and Frida Kahlo over veggie burgers and handmade drawings with the crayons provided for us. Su’s effervescent personality lit up the entire cafe. She demystifies the fashion industry and her personality sits at the opposite end of the spectrum of Rachel Zoe’s; it’s all smiles and no “ba-nanas” with this curly haired pin-up doll of a person.

The Five Questions We Ask Everyone:

1. What is the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
Back when I lived in Wilmington North Carolina, I had this boyfriend who was wild, and my good friend Anna was a wild child too. So one day my boyfriend at the time goes, “Let’s graffiti downtown!” We didn’t have any spray paint – all we had were these cans of interior paint and these brushes – so we dressed in all black and put on those cowboy neckerchiefs and went downtown to the roof of this brand new fancy parking lot.

So there we were, in all black, painting poetry and words in other languages on this giant white wall. It was everywhere – dark interior paint on this 30 foot tall wall in the parking lot.

Then we were all amped and decided to run around down town and keep tagging with this paint. Of course, my idiot ex-boyfriend runs up and starts painting very publicly, on a door of a restaurant. I see the police coming down the street so I start signaling and yelling his name; he doesn’t hear me.

They arrest him on the spot. I just remember visiting him in jail looking at him through the plexi glass with my hand pressed up against it and on that phone going, “Baby, I’m gonna get you out of here.” He eventually was let out and we kissed passionately in front of the police station. It was all very… what was that movie where the couple goes around killing people? Oh well. It was like that.

2. What are the five things you can’t live without?
- Black, strappy Calvin Klein heels
- Burgers from Ruby’s in SoHo
- My cellphone! I tried to live without it… it didn’t work out.
- My bed
- Mango Chutney

3. What’s your motto or the advice you live by?
I know it might sound corny but, “Live life to the fullest.” It actually was my senior quote in the school yearbook. That’s what I’m trying to live right now.

4. What is you favorite song to belt out at the bar/in the car/for karaoke?
In the car, what’s that one by The Cure, “Show me show me showww me… Just like Heaven!” Yes! But for karaoke, of course, “You’re so Vain” Carly Simon. I love that one. Another song that I belt out at a bar would be The Smiths, “Ask.” I am sooo into this song right now!

5. Ten years from now you will be….
Oh that’d make me… 32? If you’d asked me that a year ago, I wouldn’t have even been thinking about being a big designer. I’d see myself in Turkey owning a boutique by the Mediterranean. Maybe owning some sheep. But now I hope I can do both. I don’t necessarily want the fame, but I want to be successful, I want to be known in whatever area I’m in, whether that’s Turkey, New York, or wherever. I want a family. Aw, a baby. I babysit this girl and she’s just so cool. She’s two years old and she’s cooler than me. She wears the coolest clothes and Ray-bans. I want that!

Five Questions Just for Su:

1. If you could design the wardrobe for any movie or TV show, which would it be?
For a TV show, Sex and the City. It’s right up my alley and I love Carrie’s style. It seemed like it would’ve been so much fun and it was innovative; [it] very much changed peoples’ sense of fashion. The movie I would like to do the wardrobe for, I would say True Romance. I love everything that Patricia Arquette wears in that movie. She is my favorite character of all time.

2. If you could be a famous designer for a day who would it be and why?
Alexander McQueen. Love him. He has these amazing shows and I’d die to wear his stuff. His runway shows are so wow. I’d just love to get inside his mind and see the way he comes up with his collections. How does he work? I wonder what his world is like. He’s definitely on my top favorite list.

3. What is your absolute favorite thing that you’ve made?
I made this latex shirt. I know, it sounds kind of weird, but it flares out and looks baggy and it’s totally studded across the front. My friend wore it out and it looked great!

4. Could you see yourself showing at Fashion Week?
I don’t know… Obviously it would be amazing to show there, but it’s so much stress and pressure for one week. It seems kind of like a hellish ordeal. Maybe if I was sponsored. I’d love to show there, though, but I’d first like to do a simple show.

5. When did you realize your passion for fashion?
I realized my passion for fashion when I designed my first dress for Halloween back when I was seventeen. I was inspired by this book called Faeries by Brian Froud. The book has the most beautiful illustrations of fairies. The illustrations inspired me to buy earthy tie dye fabric from the local crafts store and get to sewing and creating. I put leaves and flowers in my hair and I had a small bustle made of tulle. It was cute and sweet!

[Check out Su's website, to be up and running soon! For immediate styling/designing inquiries for the fantastic Su, contact her at subeyazit@gmail.com. And don't forget to look for me sporting a Su Beyazit original this Sunday on the red carpet of the VMAs! Aww, yeah!]