Even as the world goes askew, you need to stop and smell the flowers. Not to distract from the going-ons, mind.

“In Turkey, when you say ‘a rose from the mud,’ it means hope,” said Burç Akyol ahead of his spring show. “The rose in the oriental world really stands as a symbol of rebellion and resistance, resistance with dignity, like standing true and beautiful.”

He added that he wanted to focus on being passionate about “arts, crafts, the meaning of our lives” as an antidote to a dreary world that wants to dim people’s lights.

Cue a collection that was about looking sharp but never lost the gender-irrelevant sensuality that netted the designer the Pierre Bergé Prize at this year’s ANDAM Awards.

The show opened with a series of slinky suits with high waisted trousers generously proportioned on the leg, identical in cut but not in fabric and worn by different genders.

He expanded on this initial idea with successive looks that swapped out a pant for a midi-length pencil skirt in a similar material or showed a draped sweater in different fabrications – or as a dress.

Later on, material permutations pivoted towards his habitual gauzy glamor with long draped chiffon skirts and gowns. A sense of ease remained as these came paired with tank tops or offset by jeans with a bicolor wash evoking tuxedo trousers, a carryover best-seller for the label.

Backstage, Akyol said another way to resist was to “show up for the challenge and prove that you can go to the next stage.” The finely tuned mix of commercially attractive options and recognizable showstoppers – plus a sprinkling of past collection pieces courtesy of his collaboration with eBay’s Endless Runway project – suggested he’s headed in the right direction.