There was a dark baroque beauty to British-Turkish designer Erdem Moralioğlu's latest collection, held up by rounded 1960s shapes. Rich with surface texture, the designer did not hold back after last season's palette cleanse, as black velvet merged into jet beaded guipure lace. Few and far between were his earlier prints, replaced by ornamental jacquards, intricate embroideries, or jewel-encrusted florals that clung onto satin cocktail dress confections. The designer had equally grand visions for his tailoring as metallic jacquards formed swing coats and cocooned suiting, while shiny black-stamped crocodile made for the coolest of capes. In addition to the piled decoration, there was also a theme of unraveling as though Moralioğlu could not quite resist the allures of the haberdashery department. Engrossed, the designer added tiny bunches of tassels to embroidered floral evening shifts, and spliced his voluminous car coats at the elbow, just as he played with softly sloping hemlines on asymmetrical party dresses, perfectly balanced by Nicolas Kirkwood's embellished flats.
Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
