February 16, 2020 |
Dilara Findikoglu’s witchy woman is evolving. Victoriana will always be her first love but she’s also embracing tweed skirt suits – although they’re slashed to the hip bone and slung with a skinny pearl belt jangling with the letters of her name. A pink version of the suit came with a skirt so short it barely covered the model’s bum. Transgression is never far away in Dilara’s world. Sensual audacity is something she celebrates with her love of corsets (there were many great ones in this show) and championing of a distinctly feminine silhouette. She’s one of the the few designers – male or female – to show a sexually confident woman. But for all her muse’s power, transgression, glamour and self determination, Dilara also wanted to explore her vulnerable side with this collection.
Drawing on her own experience of psychoanalysis, she named one look Self Destruction and another Voices in My Head. One called Real World was a pinstripe three-piece suit with conical bosoms cut into the vest. These names hint at her design process where each look is given an in-depth storyline and character. She reaches beyond convention. Fantasy is at the heart of what Dilara does and her vivid creative world is visceral and emotional.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans.
