Erdem conjures up a devout princess as his jewel-bedecked muse
Her name may be among the grandest-sounding one is likely to hear, but a search for images of Princess Orietta Pogson Doria Pamphilj, reveals a sensibly elegant woman whose style may not ordinarily be much to write home about. That was of no concern to Erdem Moralıoğlu, however, for whom the Princess’s life was too irresistible a tale not to mine for his latest show, held yesterday at the National Portrait Gallery, with Joan Collins, in sequins, looking on from the front row.
The designer – a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge – had gone to Rome in search of his next regal muse (The Queen has been his inspiration in the past) and discovered the Princess’s 1,000-room Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, to which she returned in the early Sixties, after living in London where she married naval officer Frank Pogson.
“I became obsessed with this woman and how she carried the weight of the inheritance,” Moralıoğlu said. He discovered that her antifascist parents sewed family jewels inside her clothes as they attempted to flee Mussolini but reversed the subterfuge, embellishing cardigans and skirts with teardrop pearls and crystals. As a devout Catholic, Princess Orietta, would surely have approved of veils of black tulle which conferred modesty to fitted shifts.
Moralıoğlu offered up the most Erdem of interpretations of Sixties chic, with blooming clouds of jewel-hued jacquards that Moralıoğlu imagined the Princess peeling from the palace walls to wrap herself in.
There were also “neat little kilts” of silk printed with the Renaissance art owned by the family, dating back to their ancestor Pope Innocent X.
“I mean, it’s all fictional,” Moralıoğlu clarified of his take on her look.
The more demure, aristocrat spin on Sixties style emerged in exquisitely polished, old glamour styling: models’ hair was swept up in stiffly lacquered chignons held with glittering crystal slides. Jewellery was heirloom-like with delicate drop earrings while elbow-length gloves and feathered hats formed a basis of polite wardrobe staples. Salvatore Ferragamo-esque block heels with shiny buckles and lace tights conjured Italian signora-style as did embellished car coats, skirt suits and prom-style dresses.
Erdem’s label has become a go-to for modern women craving ladylike decadence: Jenna Coleman, Claire Foy and Kristin Scott Thomas are all fans, as well as the Duchess of Sussex and the Countess of Wessex. Their lives may not have quite the drama of Princess Orietta’s, but looks inspired by her will appeal for the next engagement requiring a glitzy outfit.