Sometimes you need to see a fashion show that just blows your tits off. A show that shocks you, challenges you, makes your jaw drop to the floor because the vibrations in the air are so intense you can’t help but smile or scream. In a season of greige and big mannish blazers and meh that sensation is needed more than ever. Enter Dilara Findikoglu with the most impressive runway show of her career.
Last night in London you could hear gasps as models walked in the low low lowest rise trousers and sheer corsetry, sometimes with a single seashell covering their more private regions. Even at an hour late and in the rain, the show was all people could talk about, grins stretching ear to ear. “Her best ever!” a friend cheered as he flitted into the downpour. Outside a guest in a sheer blush corseted dress and lucite stilettos let her blonde hair (and her entire body) get drenched—positively soaked—while she waited on a gloomy corner for her Uber.
That’s actually in the spirit of the collection. Inspired by Botticelli’s Venus, Findikoglu crafted medieval sea goddess clothes from safety pins and seashells. “We drilled all these little shells,” Findikoglu motioned towards a bustier entirely covered in seashells, interspersed with tiny pins. “It took hours and hours of work with my team.”
The level of craftsmanship—craftswomanship, actually—was the most meticulous that Findikoglu has ever shown, and the hardcore romance of it all coupled with the bumster pants and feral fairy spirit seemed to allude to the rumors last year of her taking over a heritage brand. Those rumors were born, in fact, from her community of fans who would have gagged to see their high priestess taking up the mantle of a badass British label. Instead, a safe bet white man was chosen. But you can’t help the wonder Findikoglu could muster with more resources and more marketing behind her essential, witchy feminine vision.
“It takes a lot to constantly push my own boundaries, and the boundaries of the world, but I always want to raise my own bar every season,” she said backstage, swarmed by fashion’s most seasoned and respected journalists. “It takes a lot out of my own soul and my brain and energy.“
But is it worth it? For the fashion world, a show of this emotional magnitude is a must. Even Dilara knows it. “I definitely find myself questioning these things, but I’m going to give up,” she affirmed. ”Let’s bring some more fantasy! I just would be happier if I saw more people pushing boundaries because every time I look at [other] collections, it just looks like the same thing. Not to shade anybody, but I think that should be definitely a limit between the high fashion—the fantasy that we want to live—and high street brands or other simpler brands. I don’t want to see these all merge together.”
“The way I see fashion is so different. It’s like my escape, my own reality, so I want people to feel that too,” she said. Don’t you want that? Designers operating from a passionate place of conviction? If we pay attention to Dilara we’ll make space for others to share their dreams too.
