Yesterday, H&M released the news that their next designer collab will be with London-based ERDEM. Prepare yourself for intoxicating floral patterns, tailored shapes with heavy doses of whimsy, and for the first time ever, a men’s clothing line.
In case you aren’t an ex-runway rat like me, ERDEM is a line designed by Erdem Moralioglu. He’s a dashingly handsome visionary with Turkish and Canadian roots. I associate ERDEM with England, which is where Moralioglu grew up and currently resides. Whenever I scroll through an ERDEM collection, I’m usually greeted with elegant florals, crisp lines, and an air of venerable mystery.
ERDEM takes everything beautiful about English women and remixes it into something that is still incredibly elegant, but with a cinematically dark, dramatic twist. One twist in this collab: Baz Luhrmann (The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge, the good Romeo+Juliet) is in charge of illustrating the story behind the collection.
Luhrmann begins the story with a 27 second tease. A coquettish woman bursts out of a castle in a floor-length floral dress in the English countryside. The rest of the video follows the woman and her male counterpart as they run away from… something through blooming gardens and misty groves. It’s whimsical as fuck.
Neither ERDEM the line nor Erdem the person have ever created clothing for men before. This is also H&M’s first time inviting their designer collaboration to create menswear. If you happen to be a dude who loves incredible floral patterns and immaculate (and affordable) suits, you are about to spend all of your year’s fashion stipend on bloom-covered suit jackets and hopefully some really cute ties.
Womenswear, on the other hand, is what ERDEM has been mastering over the last 12 years.
ERDEM Fall/Winter 2017 Collection / VOGUE
If you’re a floral-obsessed movie monster like me, you’ll love looking at past ERDEM collections. There’s something completely wearable, and completely fantastical about each piece. You’ll see dresses that make women look like warriors, princesses, artists, and muses. His imagination brings so many beautiful new images out of classic and traditional ideas. Seriously, next time you’re bored: ERDEM’s archives on Vogue.com. Do it.
Though we never see a set of running feet, Luhrmann’s film does show us the Rear View of a few pieces.
The prices for real-live ERDEM dresses and gowns usually rests around $1-$2k. Whatever he makes for H&M, it’s going to be beautiful, and at H&M prices, it’s going to be very in-demand.
Moralioglu is using this design collaboration opportunity to reflect both on his life and his career. In addition to chasing the perfection of truly timeless fashion, he’s also taking the menswear challenge to the next level by relating it directly to the womenswear. Everything I see so far makes me want to see more. He seems to be reveling in the mystery of the collection, which is due on November 2, 2017.
“The collection reinterprets some of the codes that have defined my work over the past decade. It’s also inspired by much of my youth, from the English films, 90s TV shows and music videos I grew up watching to memories of the style that defined members of my family. Taking from these inspirations, I imagined a group of characters and friends off to the English countryside for the weekend. There’s a real play in the collection between something decidedly dressed-up and equally effortless.”
“I can tell you about one of my inspirations,” he says. “There’s a video by Bruce Weber for the Pet Shop Boys song Being Boring that I’ve always loved. It’s about a group of young people at a country house mansion. It’s that idea of a country getaway with boys and girls dressing up and playing with their look, with girls in ball gowns and sneakers, and also sharing a wardrobe with guys.”
Stay tuned for release announcements and updates!