For all the British-based period influence—Moralioglu names Mainbocher, the American couturier behind Wallis Simpson’s wedding ensemble, as one of his biggest design inspirations—his clothes are not at all costumey, nor are they without contrast, another Erdem signature tied to his upbringing. Moralioglu’s Turkish father and the family’s summer trips to Istanbul offered an exotic counterpoint to his English rose of a mother. Thus, with all the frills comes a touch of the subversive, mostly by way of his color work and moody prints. “There’s always a bit of the dark side,” he says, referring to his inspiration for spring 2009, taken from “really weird, surreal images from a Seventies production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
In fact, “weird” and “odd” are apparently two of Moralioglu’s favorite words. He uses them to describe all manner of things, from his prints based on blurred Victorian images to the rosette trim on a jacket and the posture of figures in his sketches. And it’s exactly this vibe that Julie Gilhart, fashion director of Barneys New York, picked up on when she spotted hot jewelry designer Julia Muggenberg, who designs the Belmacz collection as well as Erdem’s runway jewelry, in an Erdem blouse. Gilhart promptly ordered the collection and gave it an extra stamp of approval when she wore an Erdem frock to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute gala in 2006, appropriately titled “Anglomania.” Says Gilhart: “I fell in love with it. It was so different. It was white chiffon with a print of brown birds on it eating butterflies. It felt very elegant but had an edge I like.”
Barneys may have been the first buzzy retailer to hop on board, but it’s certainly not Erdem’s only advocate. Aside from the Fashion Fringe and BFC award money that got him on his way, Moralioglu has engaged more sponsors than a sobriety group. There’s Mackintosh, the 185-year-old Scottish raincoat firm with which he’s collaborated for the past four seasons; Swarovski, which is helping him produce his first accessories collection of clutches and belts for spring; Taroni, the famous silk producer, which has provided him with luscious duchesse silk satin; and the old-school French lace mecca Sophie Hallette, which cross-pollinated with Mackintosh for fall 2008. The result: two exquisite half-lace, half–sturdy cotton “raincoats.”
Hallette’s work was also featured prominently in Erdem’s most recent effort, his first resort presentation, in a series of white glazed organza dresses gorgeously layered with black French lace. “It was an exercise in contrast, but a really straightforward one,” says Moralioglu, who found resort’s overtly commercial nature refreshing. “You don’t necessarily carry the weight of making a really strong statement [as on the runway],” he says of the increasingly important season. “You’re designing a dress for the sake of designing a dress, if that makes any sense.” Of course it does, but again, such an honest, uncomplicated statement has Moralioglu considering a retraction: “I don’t know if that’s going to sound really bad in print.”
