Monday, January 31, 2011

Garden Party with Erdem!

Okay, so its no surprise.  I'm currently obsessed with antique-y looking floral prints on dresses.  I always have been.  Not everyone makes them look like something worth wearing, however.  One of the few who makes an awesome floral-print dress consistently beautiful is Erdem.

Erdem is a London-based design house led by Erdem Moralioglu.  He's of Turkish/English descent from Montreal, Canada and worked for a year under Diane von Furstenberg.  In 2005 he moved to London and started his own line.  Since then he won the British Vogue Fashion Award and is recognized as one of the top up-and-coming designers.  And, boy is he good!

 
One of the things he does so well is use print.  That's so rare!  His prints remind me of re-edited antique floral prints.  The yellow with the red and pink reminds me of this woodblock print by Kono Bairei from 1880.  To me, his dresses from Spring Summer 2011 look like he took prints like this, cut them up and made a collage and then painted over them with watercolors.  Lovely!
Another thing I like so much is the fact that the prints are strategically place to take your eye to the most flattering parts of the dress.  This dress is cut to slim the wearer and then the print leads the eye to the smallest part of the waist, the bust and then the hem to see the model's legs.  Its like a giant sign to "ignore my hips and admire the fact that I have a lovely shape!"  I love it!
Hands down, my favorite dress is the one.  It totally reminds me of antique Japanese woodblock prints of flowers, but in a modern, wearable way.  Love it!  Plus, you can wear this dress on your fattest day and never look like you've had too many cupcakes.  Its classic, its comfortable and its friggin pretty!  I don't know if you've ever played with these dresses in person, but the silk is to die for.  Erdem doesn't scrimp when it comes to materials.  Not at all.  Sure, his stuff is expensive but you get what you pay for!  In this case, its silk worth wearing for the rest of your life.  
Pictures from Erdem, woodblock print from A Private Collection
You may also be interested in my prior post about Peter Som

2 comments:

Mihaela Gurău said...

I love this collection!

shoulderache said...

Me too!

Thanks for stopping by! :-)

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