Erdem Moralioglu falls sincerely in love with a new woman, or women, from some historical moment all the time. This much we know about the allusive way his creative mind organizes itself. The 1950s romance that has taken over his pre-spring collection is with Deborah (or ‘Debo’), the late Duchess of Devonshire and former chatelain of Chatsworth. By way of introduction, her girlhood nickname, which stuck to her for life, is emblazoned in pearls on a navy cashmere crewneck sweater.
It starts off with a great big alpaca animal-printed exaggeration of an A-line swing coat, and continues through a series of quite lavishly draped, printed, and jewel-encrusted evening things. One of his off-the-shoulder black velvet dresses with bows on either side of the neckline is a direct reference to a Deborah portrait by Cecil Beaton. In other words, Moralioglu is in his element, beckoning his customers towards the holiday season with a richly-referenced homage to the grandly quirky style of the Duchess.
Her penchant for collecting insect-brooches runs all over the beetle, spider, and dragon-fly jewelry pinned on ballgowns and nonchalantly draped exaggerations of ladylike cashmere twinsets. Then there are his representations of the outdoor life of the lady of the estate, who famously bred rare-breed chickens and was as good friends with local farmers as she was with the likes of Lucian Freud, who painted her portrait. Cue very Erdem-ite retakes on his signature trench coats, beige in the front, fan-pleated tweed in the back, and a sensible Prince of Wales checked walking suit with a kilted skirt.
To be fair, Moralioglu is far from the first fashion designer, writer, biographer, or artist to be mesmerized by Debo. There’s a whole literary Mitfordania industry built on the story around the six wildly different Mitford sisters. Debo, being the youngest, declared as a child that she’d grow up and marry a Duke, and did.
But, through a chain of relationships and circumstances (one being his friendship with Laura Burlington, who was an early boutique buyer of Erdem at the Bluebird store in the mid-2000s and is the daughter-in-law of the present Duke and Duchess of Devonshire) he has been given permission by the family to study her wardrobe in the house archive.
The set of these photographs, shot by Campbell Addy, hints at the black and white marble Chatsworth floors and behind-the-scenes dust sheets. Knowing Moralioglu’s tendency for deep-dive historical research in museums, libraries, and private collections, it’s a fair suspicion that his pre-spring collection must be only the start of his findings. Come his September show, there’ll surely be much more on Debo to come.
