At Niche at Pearl, the mother-daughter team behind one of Pearl’s longest-running boutiques is known for modern, architectural clothing built for everyday wear. But this June, designer Nilgun Derman is stepping into an entirely different medium: paper. We caught up with her daughter and Niche creative director, Ayse Derman, to hear the story behind it.
On Saturday, June 27, Nilgun’s latest project will take the stage at Stable Hall as part of Agarita’s season finale concert, a collaboration that has been seven years in the making.
A Friendship Years in the Making
Nilgun’s connection to Agarita began with a desire to dig deeper into her creative side: personal cello lessons. Ayse explains that her mother began taking private lessons with the ensemble’s musicians years ago, long before Agarita existed in its current form, and the friendship that grew from those sessions eventually turned into something bigger. Agarita has a tradition of pairing each season’s performances with a collaborating artist, weaving that artist’s work into the music, the venue, and the story of the evening. When the idea came up to collaborate with Niche, the concept clicked immediately: tell the history of fashion through innovative dress wear, paired with the music of the eras that shaped it.
The idea was first thought of in 2019. Nilgun began work on the first gown almost immediately. Then, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, all projects and life came to a halt. The dress sat stuck in time for quite a while. It’s only now, on Agarita’s closing show of the season, that the full vision is finally coming to fruition.
Fashion History, Told Entirely in Paper
The collection follows four distinct eras of European court fashion: Medieval, Baroque, Georgian, and the American Gilded Age, each built entirely from paper and Tyvek rather than traditional fabric. Nilgun made the choice deliberately, stripping away color, texture, and embellishment to focus on pure silhouette: the cage structures, exaggerated bustles, and dramatic shapes that defined each period’s court dress. The result is a set of gowns that feel almost ghostly, more like sculptures than garments, each one engineered to hold its form without a single inch of fabric.
A fifth piece closes out the evening: a more modern, theatrical look pulled from a past Niche collection, whisking centuries of history into the present day. Unlike the others, this final piece will be wearable, and a version of it is planned to be made available at the Niche at Pearl store later this summer.
A Concert That Moves Through Time
Rather than a traditional runway show, the presentation will unfold slowly throughout Agarita’s performance. Five models will move from the back of the room toward the stage as the evening progresses, each appearance timed to its corresponding musical era. After the performance, the collection will be on display in Stable Hall’s foyer, giving guests a closer look at the construction and detail that went into each piece.
Agarita’s season finale will also feature guest musicians Jeremy McCoy on bass and Ethan Wickman on oud, rounding out a program that moves from early court music into more contemporary sound, mirroring the journey of the garments themselves.
Why Stable Hall
Agarita regularly fills venues that are larger than Stable Hall’s intimate footprint. But for this particular show, scale wasn’t the priority. Both Niche and Agarita wanted the performance to take place at Pearl, where the friendship that sparked this collaboration has deep roots. As Ayse put it, it’s simply home.
Don’t Miss It
This concert is free, but a reserved ticket is required, and given the rarity of this collaboration, it’s expected to sell out quickly. Reserve a spot at agarita.org and stop by Niche at Pearl to see where Nilgun and Ayse’s work will live for the rest of the year.
Event Details
Saturday, June 27 | 7:30 PM Stable Hall at Pearl, 307 Pearl Pkwy, Free, ticket required