April 1, 2025 |
The creations of Erdem Moralıoğlu, to me, epitomise one of the most intriguing things about fashion: generational sentimentality. By that, I mean, that when you see a model come down one of his bi-annual catwalks, or you browse a rail inside his Mayfair store, it provokes the imagination so much so that it transcends time beyond the season you’re looking at. You’re able to envision the person who might be purchasing that piece, the decadent occasions they’ll wear his dresses to, the memories made in his mohair jumpers, and know for certain that it will be passed down through the family’s wardrobes for generations to come.
His ability to design garments that marry elegance with wearability, whilst simultaneously making us dream, have won him a fan base far beyond the city he started in (London) which has brought him to the cusp of his brand’s 20-year anniversary; no easy task, especially considering the challenges independent designers face today. With countless A-list celebrity dressings, a retail expansion in Asia, a recent Barbour collaboration and a handful of major awards under his belt, Moralıoğlu, hot off the heels of his AW25 London Fashion Week showcase, shares and reflects on his personal top ten collections of his brand which have undoubtably made him an example of British fashion at its finest.
Erdem Moralıoğlu
Autumn/Winter 2025
“For autumn/winter 2025, I collaborated with British artist Kaye Donachie. We both attended the Royal College of Art, and I have always been incredibly inspired by her method of painting. Her approach to portraiture is never about a reality; it’s about a feeling or an idea.
I wanted to explore an imaginary conversation between artist and subject, capturing the shadows and souls of Kaye’s artworks/portraits of women unknown. Kaye’s hand is present throughout the whole collection, whether it’s as literal as an application or in spirit.”
Spring/Summer 2025
“My spring/summer 2025 collection was inspired by The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, a seminal queer text first published in 1928 and banned from circulation before the end of that same year. It tells the story of Stephen Gordon, a woman living as a man, and her doomed relationship with Mary Llewellyn. It was the push and pull of masculine and feminine dressing that I wanted to explore in this collection. The book is important as it describes very vividly what it was like to be gay in the 1920s.
There is a chapter that stayed with me about Stephen being measured for a suit on Savile Row. Beyond a fitting, it felt like an awakening. I wanted to explore this in the collection, so for some of the tailored looks on the runway I collaborated with Edward Sexton. Working with a Savile Row tailor was an inspiring experience. It felt interesting to fit the jackets on female models, making them become more masculine in the process. The skeletal cocktail dress in green embroidered lace, like many other looks in the show, was inspired by a green carnation in homage to Oscar Wilde.”
Autumn/Winter 2024
“The [autumn/winter 2024] collection was inspired by the life of Maria Callas, and specifically a performance of the Greek tragedy Medea. That story and Maria’s own story is full of contradiction and this collection was really about the idea of exploring those beautiful contradictions, the idea of her onstage and offstage persona. There is something very interesting about this sharp contrast, and I wanted to explore this with a certain amount of undone-ness in the show.
There is a sense of intimacy in the collection – lingerie-inspired details, structured silk pyjamas and a sense of the clothes worn in her own time, off stage. I find the complexities of any character can be the most interesting things. It’s the contrast between public grandeur and personal intimacy and vulnerability that I wanted to explore. The show opened with an opera coat with an exaggerated shawl collar in pistachio boucle wool, worn with a reserved pencil skirt with exposed seam details, which emphasised the idea of Maria Callas’ public and private persona.”
Spring/Summer 2024
“The inspiration for this collection was Deborah, late dowager Duchess of Devonshire and her extraordinary work and dedication to restoring Chatsworth House. I was lucky enough to work closely with the archivists at Chatsworth and Helen Marchant, Debo’s former private secretary.
The collection is really an embodiment of her spirit and vision – she had a sense of make do and mend and an approach to life that I found very inspiring. When the curtains came down at Chatsworth they were repurposed into upholstery, I was able to use some of those antique textiles in this collection, piecing fragments into dresses and linings.
Look 42 is a very special piece as it incorporates archival textiles, remnants of curtains that were once hung at Chatsworth, this fabric was then hand embroidered in the studio by Cecily Lasnet, Debo’s great granddaughter. This piece speaks to the idea of lineage and continuity whilst embodying Debo’s make do and mend spirit.”
Spring/Summer 2023
“For this collection, I wanted to explore the world of art restoration. The knowledge, skill and obsession that goes into restoring individual pieces. We looked broadly at painting, historic costume, and sculpture. I met with restoration experts and conservationists at The British Museum, Tate Britain, The National Gallery and the V&A, who can often be working on an individual piece for years.
It became apparent to me that the forensic dedication applied to their subjects walks the line between care and obsession. This collection explored that space. I loved the idea of becoming the material that you are restoring. I remember it being a hugely sad time in London, as the show was the night before Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. It brought a real sense of solidarity to London.”
Autumn/Winter 2021
“For autumn/winter 2021, I was inspired by Margot Fonteyn, more specifically, the life of a dancer in the wings, this liminal space between onstage and offstage, between public and private. When I was working at the Royal Opera House, that was the moment I found so exciting. The dancers shifting around, criss-crossing, half dressed in what they wear during the day and half-dressed in their costumes.
We filmed the show at the Bridge Theatre in London during lockdown, and among the models were Christina Arestis, Elizabeth McGorian, Zenaida Yanowsky and Marguerite Porter, all retired ballerinas, some of which had danced with Nureyev. It was important to me that the collection was optimistic, given this situation we were in at the time.”
Spring/Summer 2019
“For spring/summer 2019, I was inspired by the lives of Fanny and Stella, two individuals in Victorian London with the courage to explore the power of self-expression. I first discovered their story in Bloomsbury, where I had just bought a house with my husband Philip. We found a blue plaque dedicated to them on the site where they used to live, and when I investigated their story, I was fascinated. They were two men who lived as women and who faced trial and yet were not convicted. All of this happened many years before the trial of Oscar Wilde.
Like every season for me, the trigger is less about exactly who the characters were but more about how their story captures my imagination. This collection was essentially about two people who dressed to be who they fundamentally were, which I found very powerful.”
Autumn/Winter 2016
“For autumn/winter 2016, I wanted to channel the spirit of old Hollywood. I showed the collection at the Old Selfridges Hotel, where models walked to the soundtrack of All About Eve. We recreated an old Hollywood soundstage.
I loved this idea of faded grandeur. The tinselly dresses, the boyish tailoring with rounded shoulders, the little flat shoes. It was this idea that they were going to an audition and wearing their best suit but with a flat shoe for the office in the day. I loved that contrast, that idea that they were dreaming of Hollywood.”
Spring/Summer 2015
“For spring/summer 2015, I was inspired by the work of Marianne North, who was a Victorian botanist and explorer. For the show, we created a wild tropical greenhouse. Marianne North was this extraordinary woman who travelled the world documenting plants. I love the idea of this woman who is obsessed with one thing. I’m quite obsessive too. The starting point for the collection was this woman, and who she was.”
Autumn/Winter 2015
“For autumn/winter 2015, my primary inspiration came from an installation I saw at Frieze Masters designed by Robyn Brown, who I worked with for the installation for the show.
In his project for Frieze Masters entitled The Collector, Brown imagined how an intellectual’s flat would have looked in Paris during the political unrest of 1968. I was fascinated to create a character through environment as much as through the clothes. I imagined a woman coming home every night, in her riding boots or her grandmother’s gown. She might have ripped up some upholstery to make a ball gown or repaired an old ocelot coat with bits of shearling.”
Photography courtesy of Erdem.
