Why We’re Absolutely Mad for Ilkyaz Özel

Fashion can be beautiful. It can be sustainable. It can be artistic. It can be wildly impractical and completely necessary. And sometimes, the very best brands somehow manage to be all of those things at once.

Enter The New Arrivals Ilkyaz Özel.

There is something about this brand that is difficult to put into a neat little box, and honestly, that might be exactly why we’re obsessed.

At first glance, The New Arrivals feels like fashion. Then you look a little closer and it starts to feel like art. Look even closer still and you realize there is an entire world behind the clothes: Mediterranean culture, travel, objects, architecture, sensuality, craftsmanship, and an almost rebellious appreciation for beautiful things.

It is the fashion equivalent of walking into a very cool contemporary art gallery and thinking, “I don’t completely understand what I’m looking at… but I absolutely need it!” Like this perfume pendant. NEED!

Who is Ilkyaz Özel?

Behind the brand is Turkish designer İlkyaz Özel, who founded The New Arrivals in Istanbul in 2020. Before building her own label, Özel worked as a fashion stylist, a background that seems to have shaped the way she approaches design: less as a formula for creating “clothes” and more as a way of creating an atmosphere, a feeling, and a point of view

Özel has described herself as someone who was always drawn to atmosphere, objects, and the way they influence how a woman carries herself. Growing up around the Mediterranean also deeply influenced her aesthetic, from the colors of the sea and sunsets to the particular balance between relaxed daytime living and unapologetic nighttime glam.

That duality is everywhere in the brand.

There is softness and drama. Minimalism and excess. Effortlessness and serious craftsmanship. A little bit of I don’t care mixed with I care very, very much…. Which honestly makes us madly in love with it!

And perhaps most importantly, Özel doesn’t seem particularly interested in making fashion that simply follows the moment. She is building a world around her own perspective.

So… Why Is It Called “The New Arrivals”?

This was one of the things that initially made us scratch our heads.

The New Arrivals sounds like a department-store category or a website tab. Maybe even the section where you go to see what’s new this week.

But then you realize that The New Arrivals isn’t really about constantly producing more.

It’s about the arrival. Of a new piece. A new perspective. A new object entering the world. Maybe a new chapter in life even.

And that makes much more sense when you understand how Özel approaches the brand. The New Arrivals has grown into something broader than a conventional fashion label, moving between clothing, bags, objects, and cultural projects. The brand itself describes the house as being united by a singular point of view rather than by a single discipline. (⁠İlkyaz Özel)

In other words, The New Arrivals isn’t just what has arrived on the website.

It’s what has arrived in Ilkyaz Özel’s world.

And we kind of love that.

Fashion That Feels More Like Art

What makes The New Arrivals so compelling is that the pieces don’t feel like they’re designed simply to fill a hole in your wardrobe. They have personalities that all feel a little bit different, like a big group of friends you’d be interested in getting to know. 

The goal isn’t necessarily to look like everyone else wearing the latest designer label. It’s to find the piece that feels like you. That is a distinction we care about at Hello Small Brands.

Because great fashion isn’t always about a recognizable logo. Sometimes it’s about the thing someone sees across the room and says: “Where did you get that?”

And Then There Are the Bags…

This is where we really fell.

Specifically, the Bodrum Bag — Zébrée.07.

It’s bold. It’s a little strange. It’s glamorous. It’s completely unnecessary in the best possible way.

And somehow, it makes perfect sense. The zebra-print calf-hair bag is produced as a limited edition of just 99 pieces, removing the idea that it's just another mass-produced accessory.

But what really gets us is the idea behind the numbering.

Each bag comes with an individually numbered, signed card identifying the edition and the specific piece. It isn’t just an authentication detail. It becomes part of the story of the object: this particular thing existed, it was made in this particular run, and now this one belongs to you.

That is the kind of detail that makes a purchase feel personal, not disposable.

Why It Belongs on Hello Small Brands

The New Arrivals Ilkyaz Özel is exactly the kind of brand we love discovering for our "Luxury with a purpose" category because it challenges the idea that “purpose” has to look one particular way.

Purpose can mean using fewer, more intentional pieces. It can mean creating something with a strong artistic identity rather than chasing every trend.

It can mean making limited quantities instead of trying to put the same thing in everyone’s closet.

And it can mean buying something because you genuinely, deeply love it and plan on keeping it for a very long time.

For us, The New Arrivals belongs in Luxury with Purpose because it makes a compelling argument for a different kind of luxury: one rooted in individuality, artistry, intention and the experience of owning something that feels special.

And maybe that’s the real reason we’re so mad for Ilkyaz Özel.

It’s not because we need another bag.

It’s because every once in a while, something comes along that makes you remember why fashion can be so much fun in the first place.

You don’t always need to understand it.

Sometimes you just need to see it and think:

"Oh. That’s very, very me."

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