Style on Wednesday
Erdem by H&M High-street collection the Royal family will want
There are few things that will appeal to The
Telegraph’s entire fashion team, which spans a thirtysomethingyear age gap. Of those few things, there are even fewer things that fall within affordable reach for all of us.
Which brings us to H&M’S latest collaboration, with Montreal-born Erdem Moralioğlu, which was showed on a catwalk in Los Angeles’s Wilshire Ebell Theatre last week. There is a black printed silk pyjama suit, a tweed skirt suit, a boyish checked coat. And then there are the dresses. Moralioğlu may not yet be a household name, but you will have seen his dresses – Meghan Markle has worn one; the Duchess of Cambridge, several. Often, designers who become favourites with the royals are deemed too “safe” for the red carpet, but not so with Erdem: actresses Nicole Kidman, Sienna Miller, Claire Foy and Felicity Jones are all fans of his.
“He makes the most beautiful dresses,” Ann-sofie Johansson, H&M’S creative adviser, explains, “and there are not so many designers that actually do that, not in that way that Erdem does, with pure beauty. He isn’t afraid of beautiful dresses, or floral dresses, which I feel sometimes that other designers can be.”
Certainly, his designs boast the elegance and modesty that a Duchess would look for – though he says “I’ve never thought of anything in terms of, that’s modest or that’s immodest, in all honesty.” But whether intended or not, it’s that tilt to his designs – long sleeves, skirts that fall below the knee, flattering ruffles and feminine prints – that make his clothes so wearable, and give him such broad appeal. And while price tags in the thousands meant that, in the past, most of us could only window shop, this collaboration sees silk blouses and dresses priced from £79.99.
“We have to be aware that we can’t just have one customer in mind,” says Johansson. “To target the same group with all those different concepts is just stupid. We want to be an inclusive company, and we talk all the time about diversity, but it’s easy to talk – you have to show that.
“The beauty about Erdem is he’s talking very much about diversity. It’s not just one type of woman that he sees in his collections: it’s different kinds of women, different ages, and I actually think that the collection will appeal, whether you are 15, or like me, 50, 55.”
Over 12 years, this small independent label has clawed its way up to become a highlight on the London fashion week schedule. Even so, compared to the designers that H&M has chosen to collaborate with in the past – Karl Lagerfeld, Stella Mccartney, Versace, Balmain, Kenzo – Erdem is, by his own admission, a small fish.
“This is a collection that’s going to be in so many different countries where people don’t know who I am, so it’s about creating these pieces that I think someone would want to keep forever, that have nothing to do with the idea of something being fast or instant, or wearing it and discarding it.”
So often, high street meets designer collaborations can end up as greatest hits albums for the brands involved, watered-down versions of catwalk originals at a tenth of the price. But, bar a few nods – a pleated dress similar to one in the brand’s very first collection, a leopard print faux fur coat reimagined from Autumn/winter 2016 – these aren’t clothes we’ve seen from Erdem before.
“My mum had this structured handbag that opened up, and the idea is that someone’s jewelled it. That feels like a continued language of things that I explore, but in the form of, say, a handbag, which is new to me. I’ve never done a handbag before: what would that handbag feel like? I had this image of my mum that I kept looking at when I was figuring out what it was going to be, and that was what it became.”
Moralioğlu’s late mother is a constant reference in his work.
‘It’s about creating these pieces that I think someone would want to keep forever’
“When I was a child I was fascinated by how women moved, walked, talked, I was fascinated by how my mum dressed. From that statement, it sounds like she was incredibly glamorous; not at all, she was super-efficient, and wore very straightforward things. She would always wear a white shirt tucked into a full skirt” – the same styling could be seen in the show – “no make-up, just red lipstick from Saint Laurent, and Shalimar perfume. She was completely practical, but very beautiful.”
His twin sister, Sara, a producer for the BBC, wears his clothes “almost every day”, giving “honest” feedback – which may explain why, even in his most fantastic designs, function is never overlooked.
“It’s what happens when you’re in a changing room: any success that any of us designers has is because of that moment, when someone looks back at their reflection and decides whether or not they feel beautiful. And that’s a very little moment that you have: it has to work.”
The menswear portion of the collection offered another design first. “I found myself wearing all of it. In a way, there was an easiness to it, because it was the act of taking it off the model and putting it on myself, and understanding where that arm hole is and feeling what felt right and what didn’t feel right. And then taking that jacket off myself and putting it on a female fit model was really interesting. One really affected the other.” Which explains why, for all of the beautiful dresses on offer, Kirsten Dunst chose to wear the brown floral men’s pyjama suit to sit front row.
Usually, the reception amongst the press after a catwalk show is a mixed bag. Fashion journalists are (as they must be, to safeguard your wardrobes and wallets) a fussy bunch, and for every one of us that thinks oversized leather Ikea-ish bags and mismatched shoes for £800 a pop are inspired, there will be three more muttering about the emperor’s new clothes.
It is telling, then, that following the Erdem x H&M show (which started late and was followed by a screening of Baz Luhrmann’s accompanying micro-film and a speech from the man himself) roughly half of the 350 guests made not for the free bar, next to which singer Grimes was performing, but for the pop-up shop selling the clothes. Even more telling? There was no VIP discount, and we even queued up to get in.