London Fall 2013: Erdem, Tom Ford

by The Daily Front Row

(LONDON) Erdem 
Dark magic for Erdem MoralioÄŸlu this season! As the first few looks portended, sophisticated shades of noir was the overriding aesthetic, with darkly sexy stretches of sheer paneling. The floral-adoring designer didn’t abandon his penchant for buds, thankfully. Flora simply got overlaid with said layers of black gauziness. This took shape as abundant iterations of all-black, tinged with sexy detailing (spanning the gamut from lace to eyelet to 3-D rosettes to licks of patent). One particularly poppy field of florals, shaded in purples and sunny yellows, took shape in a trifecta of silhouettes in three consecutive looks (cocktail frock; dress avec blazer; groovy head-to-toe in T and trou form). Also on deck, in rather whimsical fashion? Plumes of ostrich feathers, framing the face in collar form or comprising a pale pink pencil skirt (or, in look 23, contained inside a sheer shift, evoking a wearable pillowcase, in the best possible way…). A captivatingly noir twist on the pretty polish Moraliogllu has made his name crafting. 

Tom Ford  
Trading overt sex appeal for a cacophonous shock and awe-inducing spate of loudness (colors! textures! patterns!), Ford’s newest spate of looks were certainly eye candy worthy, back on the runway and larger in scope than the covert, ever-exclusive showings he normally turns out. From shoulder-to-knee grazing black leather fringe donned by Karlie Kloss to cartoony bursts (jagged, the kind outlining a “Wham!” or “Bam!” moment) appliqued left and right, to patchworks of fuchsia gradations (cobbled together in a hot pink fur bomber). That’s to say nothing of the zebra and leopard prints that dipped in and out, often trimmed in patterns or textures that furthered the screaming visual effect. To wit: a wide swath of neon blue pelt further ratcheting up with the visual volume of the B&W stripy factor of zebra. Statement pieces? Definitely. All in all? Ford’s latest was somewhat overwhelming, but certainly ebullient and impossible to tear one’s gaze from. 

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