Mood board: Each season, the imaginative, narratively-minded designer takes a historical deep dive into a female biography, be it Italian aristocrat Principessa Orietta Doria Pamphilj or the young Queen of England. For S/S 2020, Erdem Moralioglu was fascinated by the Italian model, silent film actress, and photographer Tina Modotti, who moved to the USA in 1913, before becoming a Communist activist and agent after relocating to Mexico in 1922. Moralioglu’s collection, incorporating voluminous ruffled gowns in metallic brocade, eyelet detail trenchcoats, striped capes and polka dot Victorian tailoring, nodded to the amalgamation of styles which Modotti adopted before her suspicious death in the back of a taxi in 1941, from vintage 19th century dress to utilitarian military wear.
Scene setting: Moralioglu held his S/S 2020 inside Gray’s Inn Walks Gardens, one of London’s largest privately owned gardens, laid out by Sir Francis Bacon in 1608, and populated with an orchard, daffodils and wildflowers. Models walked down its extensive central gravel path, lined with American Red Oaks, with regal, emotive and otherworldly effect.
Team work: Moralioglu teamed up with Sierra-Leone born London-based stylist Ibrahim Kamara who has worked with Beyoncé, Stella McCartney and Nike. Here, Victorian sunhats, taffeta neckscarves and opera gloves were offset with floral foulard scarfs tied around the body like sashes, for militaristic, rebellious effect. §
