This season designer Erdem Moralioglu presented his AW22 gender-fluid collection at the Sadler’s Wells as part of London Fashion Week. Erdem is exploring once again Europe in the early 1930’s, a period of dissolving boundaries and subverting conventions.
Electricity was in the air as we were transformed to avant-garde underground club scene. This could be in Berlin, Vienna or Paris – and the band of female artists that captured the fringe culture of the time inspired the collection: German painters Jeanne Mammen and Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler, Austrian photographer Madame d’Ora and German dancer, actress, and writer Anita Berber .
These were experimental times and the artists were liberally exploring notions of gender and sexuality, identity and expression. The collection explores this mood while womenswear and menswear, formal and casual, are juxtaposed and interwoven.
We see tailored ensembles adorned with studs, jackets and outerwear in brushed mohair, while extremes of feminine and masculine are coming together. Goth style designs, mostly in dark tones teamed with studded gloves and riding boots.
Images by Jason Lloyd-Evans