Interview by Clare Coulson

Photograph by Tara Darby

A self-confessed aesthete and lover of Merchant Ivory films, it’s no wonder that Erdem Moralioglu’s dreamy designs can induce a swoon. Add a head for business, a panache for print and a youthful edge, then watch him rise through the fashion 

Erdem Moralioglu is sitting in his studio surrounded by his Spring/Summer 2010 collection – or rather the sketches, fabrics and inspirations that went into creating it. Bolts of his incredible, trippy floral-print textiles are propped against the walls, which (stone, periwinkle blue and cyclamen pink) and bold, graphic sketches of his trademark bell-shaped tunics, elegant gowns and whimsical dresses. 

There’s a wall of tear sheets, too. Portraits of Wallis Simpson (a frequently quoted muse) and Japanese geishas hang beside images of abstracted flowers, pictures from a taxidermy exhibition at the Musée de la Chasse in Paris and watery fashion illustrations. It all looks dreamy and exquisitely pretty – two words that sum up Erdem’s recent collections, too.

“I’m interested in creating clothes that you can understand and make you feel beautiful. That has always been my driving force,” explains the designer succinctly. Erdem’s knack for creating knockout dresses really hit home last year with his Autumn/Winter 2008 collection. It wholeheartedly gave in to what really makes him tick – luscious colour, sumptuous fabrics and extremely feminine shapes – and suggested that up to that point Erdem had been resisting his all-out feminine side. “I’m an aesthete,” he continues, by way of explanation. “I like things that are beautiful, and if that means something that is wearable as well, then so be it.” 

It was, and is, an aesthetic that seems slightly out of sync with the rest of London. Then again, it’s probably what makes him stand out as one of the city’s most bankable talents. “He combines romance and prettiness but with a bit of an edge. And the prints are a major selling point – they get stronger each season,” says Averyl Oates, Buying Director at Harvey Nichols. “For us, he’s one
of the most exciting designers in the city.”

As well as Harvey Nichols, Erdem has 35 stockists, including Barneys (Fashion Director Julie Gilhart is a big fan), Net-a-Porter, Dover Street Market and Matches. “As a former designer at Diane von Furstenberg, you would expect him to be a master at dresses, but he also has his own distinctive style,” says Bridget Cosgrave, Matches’ Buying Director. “Erdem has a unique, coquettish-type vibe with a pinch of Parisian chic, which is really refreshing. He makes some incredible contemporary pieces with a lovely, young fresh feeling.”

That youthful feeling has snared some great celebrity endorsement – Keira Knightley, Thandie Newton, Claudia Schiffer and Chloë Sevigny are all fans.
“It’s always really flattering when you see someone wear your dresses, like Keira, who looks lovely and beautiful,” Erdem says. “It’s a great compliment to see your clothes live on past the lookbook or the show. They become quite real.”

Born and raised in Canada by his Turkish father and British mother, Erdem, an Anglophile who grew up on Merchant Ivory films, first came to London in 2000. After an internship at Vivienne Westwood, he won a place to do his Masters at the Royal College of Art. On graduating, in 2003, he moved to New York to work for Diane von Furstenberg, but after just one year realised that what he really wanted was to start his own label. Encouraged by his partner, he entered Fashion Fringe in 2005 and won. And then showed for the first time at London Fashion Week in 2006.It’s a whirlwind trajectory – he is only 31 years old – but Erdem gives the impression of being utterly focused on his endgame. Although chatty and fun, he answers questions in a considered way. He has engineered deals with fabric mills and suppliers such as lace manufacturer Sophie Hallette (which supplies Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton and Nina Ricci, among many others). And he has organised collaborations with Mackintosh, and this autumn Smythson, with whom he has created diaries featuring his floral prints.

Despite the buzz that now surrounds him (his Autumn/Winter 2009 collection was in Style.com’s top 10 international shows), this is still a small company. Erdem employs four full-time staff and two part-timers and runs the business himself. “I’m OK,” he says modestly with a shrug, when asked how good he is at managing the business. “But I work with a really good team and it’s impossible to go into this without understanding that you are running a business as well. If you are designing under your own name, it’s important to understand all aspects of it.” He certainly gives the impression of running a tight ship: there’s no crazy last-minute making of clothes the night before an Erdem show.

The starting point for the collection that he shows today was a trip to Japan this summer with one bag, no itinerary and a rail pass. “In Kyoto, I found pictures of these women called moga, which is Japanese for modern girls,” he explains. “In the 1920s, you had this group of young women that shrugged off Japanese society, stopped wearing kimonos and took on western clothing.”

The result was what Erdem describes as a ‘contained’ modern girl, who has cut up her kimono and made fitted dresses. “It’s not about being Japanese per se, but that mood of independence. It’s a funny thing talking about themes because I never feel our collections are thematic at all. It’s always a continuation and a narrative of ‘our girl’.”A visit to a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn), originally opened by three sisters in 1957, may have also had a subconscious effect on this collection. Erdem describes the sisters, now in their seventies with tiny waspy waists and big hair, as “like the Japanese Supremes. They were so elegant and there was a pencily shape they had that was so cool.” As usual, he has designed the prints for the collection himself. He spends anything between a few hours or five days to complete a print design, which he does by starting with an old piece of wallpaper or an image of a floral or antique etching and “scanning it, distorting it, printing it and drawing on it” on his Mac until he has the final pattern.

For Spring/Summer 2010 he has a fabulous, multicoloured blossomy print that’s halfway between
a French and Japanese floral. And the same design has been printed in black and white, too – a major departure. “I banned black ages ago,” he laughs, “but for some reason, this time I was really interested in exploring black and white.” Not that he’s about to abandon the vivid sense of colour that has become his calling card. Last season, Sarah Mower wrote that Erdem could “almost be called the Christian Lacroix of London: a super-decorator
and colourist who commands print and embroideries in ways that surpass expectations.”“I love colour,” he says emphatically. “I love finding different colours to put together in a weird way – it’s an aspect of design that I really enjoy.” When asked who he takes advice from, he pauses for the longest time before offering his twin sister Sara – a documentary film-maker at the BBC – as his toughest critic. “She will look at the clothes and sometimes not even take them off the hanger, and she’s a great person to bounce things off.” He’s also been given some sage advice by Anna Wintour, who has seen each collection since Autumn/Winter 2008, including his resort line, which he launched for the first time in New York this summer. “On one of the evening dresses, I had used this wool fusing and she suggested it would be too warm for the type of customer I would be selling it to, which is true. It was great advice.”

And there is no question of Erdem’s rising-star status going to his head. He lives in the same house that he’s lived in for the past five years and walks to his East End studio every day, including weekends. “I’m a workaholic, I love working. That’s going to sound so lame on the page. But I love my job. I just want to improve what I do to get better at what I do.”

Clare Coulson, Fashion Features Director, Harper’s Bazaar. Erdem’s show is on today at 11am at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, SW1

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