Erdem Pre-Fall 2021 Collection Honors Nancy Mitford's Independent Woman Spirit
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Erdem’s pre-fall 2021 collection is heavily influenced by designer Erdem Moralioglu’s reading of ‘Love in a Cold Climate’ and the “formal casualness” of Nancy Mitford’s own wardrobe. Photographer Ina Lekiewicz decamped to the grounds around Gunnersbury House, with models Bimpe Onasanya, Charlotte Robinson, Devon Ross, Ikram Abdi Omar and Zoë Kezia prepared to create a freshly-imagined vision of British history
Erdem’s More-Inclusive Sizing
Vogue’s Anders Christian Madsen notes that the inclusion of model Charlotte Robinson, a UK size 16, for the lookbook Erdem continues the brand’s more inclusive sizing efforts launched in the prior resort collection. The majority of pieces in the collection are now offered through size UK 22.
“There’s a great power in being able to dress lots of different women. I would hate for someone to feel like they can’t be part of this world. When something is beautifully designed and considered, it should be able to work in different sizes. So why would you limit the sizes you offer?”
Erdem’s Love of Free Expression
Returning to his muse for Erdem’s pre-fall collection, the designer praises the spirit of author Nancy Mitford.
“She marched to her own drum in a time when you had to dress in a certain way,” said Moralioglu. He had used his new print collaboration with Liberty as a form of research—“The way I would the National Portrait Gallery or the V&A”—losing himself in the years of their archives that corresponded with Mitford’s heyday. His muse would no doubt have approved of five white shirts borrowed from a men’s wardrobe, which will become part of Erdem’s permanent collection: the Romantic, the Robe, the Poet, the Tux, and the Victorian. “She was given a life she could have just lived and existed as an aristocrat. But she didn’t,” he said. “She wrote, she created a body of work. And she wrote her own rules…and broke them.”
Erdem’s Aftercare Industry Sustainability Efforts
On the sustainability front, Erdem and Burberry are now working with the aftercare industry to build sustainable clothing care into their design processes. Blanc Living, the London-based eco-friendly dry cleaner, advises brands on the fabrics and dyes they are using in their garments and what ecological impact these may have once it has been discarded.
Sizing, Income, and Sustainability
Arizona Muse doesn’t mention Erdem’s move into expanded sizes in her recent update about her British fashion sustainability agenda. Upon reflection, it is a reality that many larger-sizes women are forced to buy fast fashion clothing, when they can well afford to purchase and support more upscale brands committed to sustainable business practices.
This thought shouldn’t suggest that the world’s luxury brands are well-positioned today in employing sustainable business practices. But to the extent that there is an increased price to pay for sustainability — and there IS — many larger-size women have the financial means to pay the higher price.
