We are so proud of Yıldız Blackstone

Yıldız Yüksek Blackstone was born in Alsancak, Izmir, and graduated from Izmir's Dokuz Eylul University. She realized her dream to live in the United States when she decided to go to New York for her master degree.  Yildiz attended the New York Fashion Institute of Technology, taking classes in fashion. After graduation she stayed in the city and worked for other companies for years, until 1992 when she joined a new brand called Luca Luca. Since then, she has dedicated herself to the brand. She has been married to Richard Blackstone since 1999 and has a son.

You graduated from FIT then instead of returning to Turkey, you stayed in New York. What made you decide to stay there?
I fell in love in New York at first sight.  Buzzing streets, noise, people, accents, languages, culture, night life and day life, museums, shows, friends, learning, unlimited exposure to whatever you want to do and be.  At 22, I was not ready to give it up.  I looked for jobs and got rejected by all for not obtaining a permanent visa.  So one day I packed up to leave the very next day. After a great night of farewells and celebrating my New York life with friends, I came back home and looked out of my window at the twin towers.  I promised them I would be back.

After 3 hours sleep, at 7am, the phone rang.  I was asked to go to an interview at 9am.  I got the job, and stayed in New York.  Work was tough. There is a saying here, you have to pay your dues. Well, I definitely paid my dues. I worked for a few people who were not very nice.  Each one helped me to be me.  Back to the question, I never made a decision to stay here.  I was determined to go home every summer for good.  I just extended it every year.  All of a sudden I realized, I had made New York my new home.

How did your path cross with LUCA LUCA?   
Luca was a friend of a friend.  We were introduced when he had the concept to start a new brand.  I was working at Versace.  It was 1992, my clients were all the rock stars and movie stars on the planet, but I liked the name LUCA LUCA and I thought why not help him for a year.  Of course, that one year was the beginning of an amazing journey.

When you joined LUCA LUCA it was a very new unknown brand. Can you tell us about the growth of the company?  
It was an organic growth. One customer at a time, one store at a time.  We did not have any marketing budgets, so we built the name slowly.  With the success of the New York store, we opened other stores.  We started showing the collection to the industry during fashion week and slowly got recognition and acceptance by the community, and industry leaders.

In a way, slow growth was perfect because Luca and I had to learn the job, on the job.  We had no luxury of being an apprentice.  We stayed true to our customers and they stayed loyal to us.  The fan club kept growing.  I am still surprised when someone from another state says, "Oh I love Luca Luca".  How does she know us?  I guess when you stay in business for almost 20 years, you will get recognition.

What are your favourite brands and designers, apart from LUCA LUCA?  
I like Dolce Gabana,  Nicholas Ghesguer for Balenciaga, Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan  

Do you miss your home town, Izmir?
I miss Izmir very much.  I visit every summer, we go to Cesme and enjoy friends, cousins, family, neighbours, doner, lokma, fresh fish and much more....

How do you feel about winning a Golden Turk's award?   
I am very humbled.  I appreciate it very much and I will try hard to live up to it. I feel we have a responsibility not only to represent ourselves but also our beautiful country in the best way we possibly can. So many friends and business peers have visited Turkey.  That gives me great pride. The Golden Turk award is very thoughtful.  I humbly accept it as a symbolic gesture of our community, recognizing the hard work of those of us away from home.

What is a normal day in New York like for you? What do you like to do?  
Have breakfast with my family, drop my son at school and then go to work.  I see friends or business peers for lunch or coffee.  I try to be home by 7pm for dinner with family and put our son to sleep.  We try to limit evening events.  In New York, there is something going on every night, if it is not for my industry or friends, it is for my husband's.  We try to be good at prioritizing and not over do it.  I love this city for giving me the opportunity to meet the most dynamic people from all around the world.

Tweet

Top