Ece Ege has designed a new Dice Kayek logo in which its initials are translated into a graphic, angular stamp. It’s just perfect as the basis of a monogram, so this season, Ege created just that—and didn’t spare the horses when it came to applying it.
“I’m so proud—like a kid—that I have a monogram finally, so I put it everywhere.” That’s not strictly true—there were monogram-free zones in which Ege let her gravity-defying silhouettes do the talking—and given her 27 years designing DK, it wasn’t unreasonable to use this new decorative option with gusto. Pants, silk twill shirts, and triple organza gowns got the monogram treatment before we diverted to stripes in wide, stitched panels of monochrome organza and broken-stripe, semi-check, smock-y tops. A fine-looking black crepe smoking jacket came teamed with slimmish, vertically striped drop-crotch pants—“peasant pants,” Ege said they are called in Turkey. After a volumized cape reasserted the monogram, we saw a black skirt upon which was attached two pink extensions on the front and back: The idea was that it resembled an upside-down tulip, which it kind of did, while also resembling two stapled-on pairs of shorts.
Ege’s anti-gravity ruffles and hems became increasingly soaring, but it was not all about rule-the-room eveningwear. She called a red jersey top with a powerful peplum both at the hem and shoulder a “jogging top.” This, it most certainly wasn’t, but day-appropriate it absolutely was. What looked like a sort of minimalized parka dress with a cinched arm and neckline came in a pink moiré silk and seemed an ideal piece for contemporary Zsa Zsa Gabors to loll in. A pointed-shoulder suit, teamed with a matching shirt and tie in monogram yellow, was inspired by a Terry O’Neill portrait of David Bowie and bore the comparison, while a blue suit featuring a frock coat folded at the tail was a pleasingly ornate piece of menswear-based womenswear.
At the end, we returned to the prime raison d’être of the brand with a “bee dress” whose black jet crystals lined the arms of a full-thorax yellow mikado body, a ruffled pink mikado cape, and another longer cape made of golden wide-weave bouclé. Ege’s designs are made for display, and these worked well as unabashed attention-grabbers.
