ERDEM SS26: BETWEEN THE PAST AND A DREAM

On the monumental steps of the British Museum, amid its towering columns, Erdem Moralıoğlu staged one of the most unforgettable moments of London Fashion Week. The austere architecture, steeped in history and gravity, was not merely a backdrop it became part of the narrative itself, each silhouette resonating with the space around it. Within this monumental setting, the collection gained added significance, balancing between the past and the imagination of the future, giving spectators the sense that they were not just watching fashion, but participating in a ritual where time was folded into a new form.

The inspiration behind Erdem SS26 was the figure of Hélène Smith, a 19th-century medium who believed in her multiple reincarnations: from a French aristocrat to an Indian princess, and even a Martian traveler. This sense of multiplicity and dispersed identity permeated every silhouette cinched waists, extended hips, and panniered skirts floated like delicate clouds, as if capturing echoes of historical portraits in motion. References to Tudor portraiture, the extravagance of Marie Antoinette, and classical corsetry and high collars merged with surreal fantasy, giving the collection an almost otherworldly quality. It was femininity in constant transformation majestic, surprising, and utterly unpredictable.

The details themselves were miniature works of art, creating a dialogue between past and present. Antique lace was juxtaposed with modern embroidery, adorning practical parkas and hand crocheted dresses that trailed behind models like whispers of bygone eras. Metallic fabrics, delicate satins in shades of lime and pink, and airy linen gauze evoked Smith’s futuristic visions while emphasizing the theatricality and ambition of the collection. This was not nostalgia in the conventional sense Erdem thrives on historical references, but here they were destabilized, reimagined, and woven into a surreal vision of contemporary femininity.

The contrasts throughout the collection were hypnotic: a perfectly tailored black tuxedo appeared alongside lace blouses and Victorian-inspired patterned leather jackets, while structured panniered corsets seemed lifted from another dimension. The effect was both regal and fantastical history and imagination, ceremony and fantasy, fused into a spectacle that was impossible to look away from. By the finale, the runway took on an almost ritualistic quality: silhouettes seemed to float, intersecting with one another and the audience, creating a séance in which history, mysticism, and imagination coexisted in perfect balance.

Erdem SS26 revealed that femininity is neither one dimensional nor static. The silhouettes pulsed, expanded, contracted, and transformed as if subject to their own laws of time historical, contemporary, and imagined. This was fashion that did more than display clothes; it conjured new worlds and opened space for interpretation. The audience responded not only with applause but with genuine awe, a reminder that fashion still has the power to astonish, not just impress. This collection was a manifesto: femininity is layered, mutable, and never still much like the imagination that Erdem Moralıoğlu continues to awaken.

Photos courtesy of Erdem