The Vogue piece about this show — seriously, I know I use Vogue a lot, but it’s reliably detailed — explains that Erdem’s show was inspired by his time in quarantine holed up in his flat with a copy of a Susan Sontag’s The Volcano Lover, about “the 18th-century beauty Emma Hamilton, who married a volcanologist obsessed with Grecian vases and had a passionate love affair with Lord Nelson.” I have not read that book, so I can’t vouch for it, but I enjoy the rich specificity of that reference — the fact that he could pull it out unequivocally, and that the reviewer explored it — even if I don’t love the clothes. (Which indeed I do not.) And in case you’re wondering why he went full-on here at a time when others have backed off, he’ll tell you:
“There was something cathartic and almost quite defiant about creating a collection. I couldn’t roll over and accept that women are going to stop dressing up,” he said, reflecting on his time in lockdown.
“I get asked the same question: Are women’s tastes and wants changing now, given the situation? On the contrary, we have a customer who’s still buying special pieces. It’s the want for something you can wear in five and 10 years. As I enter my 15th year doing this, the most thrilling thing is seeing someone wearing your work from 10 years ago.” […] Entering the pink room of his store where a matching look from the collection served as centerpiece, it dawned on him: “When it feels like the end of the world, doesn’t someone need a pink moiré hand-embroidered gown?”
Personally I’d go for a trip to Hawaii with all my loved ones and a caftan on a cocktail-laden lanai, but okay.
