Biography Elif Akarlilar

Elif Akarlilar (1969) studied at the University of Vienna and got her post-graduate degree in International Politics. She then joined International Human Rights seminars at Strasbourg University. As she worked for Mavi New York offices she completed her masters degree in the New York University in the Costume History field.

In 1991, Elif Akarlilar started to work for the family company in the foundation process of Mavi Jeans brand. Since 1999 she has been working as the Global Brand Manager at Istanbul and New York offices of Mavi Jeans. She acts as the creative head of the brand  by managing the design teams in Istanbul and NY as well as the marketing and visual merchandisng teams. Her longtime collaboration with Adriano Goldschmied, known as the gold hand of jeans design, and her other projects including Rifat Ozbek for Mavi, Maviology magazine, Martin Parr’s ‘Style Hunting in Istanbul’ Photo-book, Organic Denim and Istanbul T-shirts all bear her signature.