September 20, 2016 |
Do you think that Erdem’s been rewatching Titanic lately? Stand on the helm of a ship singing My Heart Will Go On? Longing to be painted like one of Jack’s French girls? I think it’s safe to assume, probably not. But there was a distinct washed ashore feel to Erdem, and as we all know, the Titanic was lost at sea so… you know how our heads work. It makes sense. To us. No, the shipwrecked reference actually comes from the press notes which mentioned Gustave Gain’s Plage de Dielette, Jacque Henri Lartiques, Bibi, Arlette, which automatically conjures up images of turn of the century days spent at windswept beaches gone wrong. A slight frisson of darkness. And there’s a slightly distressed feel to the collection. Layers of fine lace, with uneven hems conjure up images of emerging fully clothed from the water, whereas sheer bands of chiffon ribbon, sewn together into dresses are reminiscent of clothing torn and damaged, though this being Erdem, the effect is anything but. Stiff satins in shades of blue and awash with delicate floral embroidery are shaped into exaggerated, almost wave like in curl, ruffles that cascade from the waist. In a way it felt haunted, as though imbued by the spirit of one of those old ghost stories, about the widow whose husband once died at sea, many moons ago, and once a year, on the anniversary, she appears in the window of some cliff top house, looking out to sea with longing. She’s always fabulously dressed, of course. Widows that haunt windows always are.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
