LFW: ERDEM A/W 2011 REVIEW

Many fashion designers unanimously consider art as an infinite source of inspiration for their fashion collections and, in many cases, the starting point for a collection is a work or art such as a painting or a sculpture. For his Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection, Erdem Moralioglu turned instead at the muse behind a work of art, being inspired by Jackson Pollock’s wife, abstract expressionist painter Lee Krasner. The designer must have imagined her intent on splashing colours and paint on fabric rather than on canvases or maybe ripping up canvases and wearing them herself. This inspiration allowed Erdem – also known as a master in surface elaboration – to play with different effects.

While he splashed colours on his dresses via digital abstract prints, Erdem also employed lace, embroideries and sequins to create elaborate effects on his shift dresses matched with opera-length gloves made from the material used for girdles. While he seemed to employ a lot of interesting details and strong vivid yet blurred colours that hinted maybe at a sort of psychological unrest and turmoil (and this was good since it allowed him to get away from his more romantic inspirations), Erdem should have maybe worked a bit more on the silhouettes of his designs that at times didn’t seem to display much variation.

By Anna Battista

See  London Fashion Week coverage about Erdem here.