The video Ece Ege made to present her spring collection was shot in her native Istanbul in a charming, slightly decadent school. The story goes that during a course of physics, the girls get bored stiff (not at all surprising) and start dreaming of playing hide and seek, transformed in their imagination into little princesses wearing colorful doll-like dresses.
On a Zoom call from Paris, Ege explained that she was thinking of the digital classes students had to attend instead of in-person lessons during lockdown. Remote learning is a rather taxing experience for both teachers and students, but the designer believes that, at least for fashion, digital has huge potential. “We’ve entered a new digital phase of creative expression,” she reflected. Ege clearly enjoyed the making of the video, a collaborative experience that involved her entire community of friends, artisans, and technicians. “I love movies; they really convey your vision in the most expressive, all-encompassing way,” she said.
Ege’s post-pandemic attitude is optimistic. Her sense of high fashion as a purveyor of mood-boosting self-confidence hasn’t wavered. A sloppy WFH tenue is not for her, as comfortable as it may be. The sculptural, exacting shapes she favors have stayed the same, only this season they’ve taken on a playful, ultra-vibrant shine via the use of lollipop brights—lime, sunflower, fuchsia, emerald. Humongous bows sprouted from Lolita-esque little dresses with origami-ruffled hems or were tied at the collars of printed shirts, worn under balloon-sleeve, high-waisted pouf pinafores.
Lovely as they may look, who’s going to buy these dresses? “Women surely don’t need to add anything to their wardrobes now,” conceded Ege. “But every woman needs an uplifting moment of cheerfulness. Fashion can give you that, even if we have fewer social occasions. But you have to dress well for yourself. A beautiful dress always makes you feel happy, as it gives you an emotion, a coup de coeur.”
