Hailed as Britain’s answer to Christian Lacroix, award-winning designer Erdem Moralioglu says his collections are all about romanticism and viewing life as being beautiful.
LIFE takes you on many paths. Some people stay true to the same path while others change courses along the way. And then, there are those who find themselves back on the same path they started out on.
Designer Erdem Moralioglu, son of a Turkish engineer and British homemaker born in Montreal, Canada, had his path predestined from the start.
Erdem Moralioglu: There’s more to this earnest face than meets the eye. “It was a very organic process. I was always drawing as a child. I was already obsessed with fashion and I remember watching Channel 5 because it had Fashion TV,” Moralioglu told journalists just before his show at the Audi Fashion Festival 2011 Singapore last May.
He came across as an earnest, attractive geek with his big glasses. The 34-year-old had no airs about him, and was polite, cheerful and gave reporters his complete attention.
But there’s more to him than meets the eye as Moralioglu has been hailed as Britain’s answer to Christian Lacroix, minus the absurd flights of fancy.
Since he started his own label, Erdem in 2005, his work has drawn numerous fans and plaudits. Celebrities and personalities from the likes of Claudia Schiffer, Keira Knightley, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Kursten Dunst and even American First Lady Michelle Obama have worn his creations.
The colour, prints, detailing (which hark back to Edwardian and Victorian influences) and the fabrics always arrest attention. Moralioglu has a crisp clear British accent, very proper, as was his dressing, which seemed an antithesis to his own design style.
“Actually, when it comes to my own dressing, I’m quite conservative so I keep things simple and uniform,” he explained.
In fact, he has gone on record saying, “I’m very against men wearing jewellery. Even a watch is pushing it for me.”
The English eccentricity could be attributed to his being raised by a very British mother.
In an interview with The Independent three years ago, he recalled that he watched lots of Merchant Ivory films.
“My mum was a complete Anglophile. I have this romantic vision of Britain. I loved costumes and museums, and every time we visited the country, we went to places like Madame Tussauds and Warwick Castle,” said Moralioglu.
He was always travelling back and forth the country as he had family there. Currently, he stays in London with his twin sister, who is a filmmaker.
His design journey started in Canada, where he earned a degree in fashion in Toronto. Moralioglu then interned with the quintessential British avant-garde designer Vivienne Westwood in London before enrolling in the Royal College of Art for his masters.
After graduating in 2003, he went on to win the prestigious Fashion Fringe Award in 2005. In between, he had a short stint with designer Diane von Furstenberg with whom he learnt his basics, adding that “I realised then I had to work for myself.”
A slew of awards ensued every year from 2007 including the latest last year, when he garnered the inaugural BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund. By this time, his label Erdem was being sold in many prestigious department stores in the United States and Britain.
So who does he really design for?
According to Moralioglu, it’s always about a girl (not anyone in particular, he states as he refuses to name a muse) – one who is colourful, sweet, elegant and hopefully, effortless.
“Every collection is a chapter, a narrative in the book of this girl’s life. She evolves through the collections. She’s not sexy nor trendy; no one in their right mind could call my designs trendy,” said Moralioglu.
He added that it’s all about romanticism and seeing life as being beautiful.
He remarked that it was fantastic to see stars and celebrities identifying with his designs and wearing them, like actress Michelle Green, for instance.
“I know it’s really their stylist who drives the direction of what celebrities wear. It’s a crafted image so I’m glad they find my designs suitable for that image,” he added.
As Moralioglu likes to experiment with fabrics, he was in Hong Kong sourcing for them before he was in Singapore. He is well known for designing his own prints.
The Autumn/Winter 2011/12 collection on show in Singapore, had his florals looking more abstract. Colour was everywhere in different tones and variations.
“I find it difficult to work with black. I did make an attempt as you will see my interpretation later in the new collection.”
He was reported to have said that paintings, pretty mistakes and American painter H. Craig Hanna inspired this collection. Influences from the first two were very obvious as the audience lapped up his works.
Many of the prints seemed to come in three variations: colourful floral prints, abstract splotches that were digitally manipulated paint effects and black florals. These were used on empire dresses, coat dresses, form fitting but not quite body-hugging sleeveless dresses, tops and skirts. Even the shoes and gloves were given the same treatment.
Fabrics ranged from chiffon to silk velvet and tweed. Powermesh and use of sequins were popular. Waterproof rain-twill and printed denim were introduced as part of a glam rock trouser suit contrast with classic lady-like tweeds.
The cuts and the silhouette were all very flattering. Elegantly slim and cut close to the body. Dress hemlines dropped to fall mid-calf, plunging necklines and deep open backs replaced the crew-neck looks of spring.
Spaghetti straps and dresses split to the thigh suggested a sense of undress.
Mixing evening wear and day wear seen in random contrast, printed stretch cotton skirts was paired with button-down shirts and chunky cable knit sweaters, while a floor length silk column skirt was combined with a chiffon blouse with printed sequins. Meanwhile, velvet and silk chiffon evening dresses, bound at the waist, flowed effortlessly.
So yes, he certainly managed to work the black! It was hard to pick any standouts because they were all that good. This fantasy girl of his must surely a beautiful one and it would seem for this season, she has grown up.
It all seemed very effortless. But then again, he did say, “Designing is not easy or hard, it just comes naturally to me.”
Moralioglu was stumped by this last question: Are you complete as a designer?
“One can never be complete. If you are, then there’s no incentive to change or improve,” he concluded.
No comments:
Post a Comment