“It’s gone by extraordinarily quickly,” Erdem Moralıoğlu says about the 15th anniversary of his brand Erdem. “If I close my eyes, I can still imagine being a student at the Royal College putting together my graduate collection,” reflects the designer who has embraced a poetic femininity with deep roots in the strong, often renegade, women of history.

In fact, Erdem’s depth of historical context underpinning the collections — combined with an overarching respect or craftsmanship and artistry — is unmatched in the world of luxury fashion brands. A key element in the recent evolution of the Erdem brand vision is the extraordinary synergy emanating from Ibrahim Kamara, who has styled all of Erdem’s collections and shows since 2019.

New Vogue Poland editor-in-chief, photographer Ina Lekiewicz invited Erdem Moralıoğlu, accompanied by Ib Kamara, to create this visual masterpiece in the November issue. In a new role, the designer is the photographer for the fashion shoot on location at the 17th-century Southside House in London.

Models in ‘Vintage’ include Florence Hutchings, Lily Nova, Ngozi Anene, Sienna King and Wang Han./ Hair by Teiji Utsumi; makeup by Thom Walker

Celestial Grade Synergy

Now the Dazed editor-in-chief, Ib Kamara is extraordinary adept at upending reticence or plain ignorance in how to weave the visual narrative of race, colonialism and fashion together in a modern way. Gender and sexuality are also key undercurrents in Kamara’s work, but the visionary stylist’s brilliance is his emotional and intellectual willingness to take historical realities and weave them in a web of revised history.

The result is an unabashed modern and progressive vision of a better truth, if you think like we do. Others may shatter a mirror or two over the audacity of Erdem Moralıoğlu and Ibrahim Kamara revising colonial history in a shared vision. In another ironic twist, both talents admire strong women and they seek out unique and unconventional personalities as their seasonal muses.

Kamara makes no attempt to shun the often painful facts of history, being a son of the African continent. Rather, he reweaves them into new visual narratives that travel far beyond their original reality. This revised visual statement says “it didn’t have to be this way.”

Erdem Moralıoğlu is the beneficiary of Kamara’s insights and visual interpretations, and one imagines that the synergy between the two super-talents is nothing less than blinding at times. Born in war-torn Sierra Leone, Ibrahim Kamara benefits from Erdem’s insights as the son of a Turkish father and an English mother. Erdem was born in Montreal, Canada and shuttled between Montreal and Birmingham, England.

Ibrahim Kamara says about his relationship with Erdem Moralıoğlu: