“We’re having a Hitchcock moment,” Erdem Moralioglu says during his surprise encounter with Polly the peregrine falcon. Vogue’s ploy to draw the erudite designer out of his bustling East London studio for a breath of fresh air during the final sprint to his spring 2022 show has paid off. He is well known for his encyclopedic knowledge of literary and historical references—today’s chat centers on the cinematic adaptation of British author Daphne du Maurier’s classic horror novel The Birds—making Erdem the brand synonymous with great female heroines of fiction and history; each season they are front and center in the designer’s ornate fashion storytelling.
“Doing the falconry made me think of Marianne North, who was an extraordinary Victorian botanist and amazing explorer at a time when women couldn’t travel alone,” Moralioglu tells Good Morning Vogue. “The strength and power of femininity is something that has absolutely inspired me again and again.”
Elsewhere in his oeuvre, Italian activist and photographer Tina Modotti and American vaudeville child star Adele Astaire have come alive through designs that are worn by the likes of Beyoncé, Madonna, and Oprah Winfrey.
The day’s ornithological escapade unfolds in the name of celebration. Erdem is set to soar during London Fashion Week with a show that marks the label’s return to a real-life runway (in the British Museum’s impressive colonnade, no less) and its 15th anniversary. Moralioglu’s success is a feat that, last year, saw him awarded the MBE for services to the fashion industry in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
See Moralioglu’s impromptu avian 15th-anniversary celebration, above, together with a hint of what’s next for the fashion star.
Featuring Erdem Moralioglu
Hosted by Julia Hobbs
Director: John O'Rourke
Executive Producer: Liv Proctor
Producer: James Graley
Director of Photography: John Fisher
Camera Operator: Harry Truman
1st AC: Joe Salkey
Sound Mixer: Matthew Groark
Assistant Producer: Abigail Bryony
Runner: Orlando Bryant
Edited by Sam Norton
Danny Robertson
Postproducer: Katie Cooper
Assistant Editor: Inka Ritola
Bird Handlers: Ross Hicking and Eleanor Evans