  The framework of compactified heterotic string theory offers consistent
ultraviolet (UV) completions of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. In
this approach, the existence of flavor symmetries beyond the SM is imperative
and the flavor symmetries can be derived from the top down. Such a derivation
uncovers a unified origin of traditional discrete flavor symmetries, discrete
modular flavor symmetries, discrete R symmetries of supersymmetry, as well as
charge-parity (CP) symmetry - altogether dubbed the eclectic flavor symmetry. I
will illustrate how the eclectic flavor symmetry is unambiguously computed from
the top-down construction, discuss the different arising sources of spontaneous
flavor symmetry breaking, and expose possible lessons for bottom-up flavor
model building. Finally, I will focus on one explicit example model that
provides a successful fit to all available experimental data while giving rise
to concrete predictions for so-far undetermined parameters.
