Erdem launches menswear collection

Erdem has added a new string to its bow. After entering the women's ready-to-wear segment 15 years ago, and consolidating the label’s position over time, London-based designer Erdem Moralioglu has broadened his range with a menswear collection conceived as an extension of his womenswear style.

In actual fact, this isn’t the first time Moralioglu has explored the world of menswear. In 2017, he introduced a number of men's items in a collaboration with H&M. This time, the talented designer has made an emphatic entry into the segment, with a fully fledged collection for the Spring/Summer 2022 consisting of 36 looks with a laid-back, comfortable feel, inspired by workwear but with an added touch of sophistication, in a warm colour palette.

The collection includes sleeveless sweaters, loose pullovers and mohair cardigans, some with cable-knit patterns, others with generous turtlenecks for a snugglier feel, worn over cargo trousers in velvet or cotton that are cinched at the waist by tone-on-tone tuxedo-style belts, in clever colour combinations featuring red, navy, ochre, beige, yellow and ruby red.

The rest of the wardrobe consists of shirts, shorts, jackets, trench coats, capes and a number of gaberdine jumpsuits that are either monochrome or in flowery Toile de Jouy patterns that breathe a nonchalant lightness into the collection, giving it an arty, studenty vibe.

A doomed poet style that is mirrored in the collection’s pictures, lensed on the windy grey shoreline of the beach at West Wittering, in the south of England. The clothes sell at prices ranging from €590 for knitwear to €1,170 for the jumpsuits and €1,700 for the trench coat.

“The idea of menswear had been rolling around my head for some time. I’ve always been interested in the dialogue and interaction between masculine and feminine self-expression. As our womenswear collections became more extensive over time, I adored how the men in my team began to wear items from the collections in a variety of ways,” said Moralioglu in a press release.

“The boundaries between men's and women's fashion are increasingly fluid and exciting. I imagined that my moody female protagonist had a younger brother who’d wear her clothes in his own personal way,” said Moralioglu. The designer indicated he was notably inspired by the fashion style of artist Derek Jarman - in whose work he took a deep dive during lockdown - while for the colours he tapped the palette of British artist Patrick Procktor.

Erdem's first menswear collection is intended as a test and a foundation on which to build, over the coming seasons, a more complete men's wardrobe, the same approach Moralioglu took for womenswear. Moralioglu was born in Montreal in 1976 from a British mother and Turkish father. He studied at Ryerson University in Toronto and later at the Royal College of Art in London, where he cut his fashion teeth at Vivienne Westwood.

After a two-year stint at Diane Von Furstenberg, Moralioglu set up permanently in London, where he founded his label in 2005. He was soon successful thanks to the elegance of his designs, both ultra-feminine and contemporary, his flowing lines enhanced by couture details, his skilful use of colour and prints and especially his eye for silhouettes and proportions.

Erdem launches menswear collection

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