Owner of Ayla's shop dies at age 44

OWNER OF AYLA’S SHOP DIES AT AGE 44

Ayla Conlan, who brought a spirited and sophisticated fashion consciousness to Ann Arbor when she opened her dress salon, Ayla’s, in the summer of 1978, died Friday afternoon at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. She was 44 years old.

She opened her shop, which specialized in a trendy New York look, in the remodeled East Liberty Plaza building. Her clothes were popular with a clientele which included not only Ann Arbor-area women but fashion-conscious women from a wide area of southeastern Michigan. In May, 1980, she moved from the rather intimate quarters on East Liberty to a larger store at 323 S. Main St.

The store will remain open.

In April, 1979, she produced a fashion show, held at the Travis Pointe Country Club, to benefit the American Cancer Society, and in the previous year put on a show in the ballroom of the Hoover Mansion to benefit the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Both shows, which were enthusiastically received, reflected the reasonably-priced casually sophisticated look which was the hallmark of her store.

Conlan, who was a native of Izmir, Turkey, had been an Ann Arbor resident since 1970. She came to the United States in 1958. She attended the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago, from which she graduated with a degree in fashion design.

She is survived by her husband David and her three daughters, Nicole, Mitra and Leyla.