Closing out the third day of London Fashion Week, 33-year-old Turkish-British designer Dilara Findikoglu stunned audiences with a Femme Vortex, a show consisting of 37 womenswear ensembles. Findikoglu envisioned a show in which she “destroy[s] the corporate man.” The ready-to-wear pieces consist of leather, latex, corsets, and bondage. After not showing last season due to business expenses, Findikoglu’s return to London Fashion Week is making waves.
“It’s about toxic masculinity—and being beyond it: I feel like tonight we are doing a mass ritual to end it. The collection is called Femme Vortex because I wanted to create a different reality, outside politics, borders, gender norms, any kind of systematic rules that have been created by hetero-patriarchal men. My previous collections were about fighting, about resistance. But I’m not fighting any more: I wanted to express divine feminine power somewhere beyond time, beyond reality, and beyond what is happening,” Findikoglu explained backstage.
Hari Nef, transgender model and actress, opened the show with a corporate suit radically manipulated into a skirt, held together by paperclips. Look number 3, Man License, included a newspaper with a bold headline that read “OMG Dilara Is Doing a Satanic Orgy at a London Church.” Femme Vortex does not shy away from showing skin, and some models were seen wearing complex, ornate sets of lingerie. Several looks contained sheer fabric that revealed the models’ nipples, while look 33 featured a bare-breasted model with elaborate necklaces made of chains and gothic silver crosses. Many looks utilize bondage belts as bows that tie just under the wearer’s chin.
Look 32, Cleopatra as a CEO, displayed eBay-sourced old keys expertly turned into an elaborate, striking headdress and bralette; this is the look that Vogue claims “stole the show.” These keys were also used in look 31 as a miniskirt, coupled with a feathered blue blazer, split into a risqué V-shape that reveals the model’s sternum and stomach. Frozen in time, look 36’s tight bodice is accompanied by stiffened ribbons radiating from the model’s shoulders, elbows, and cage hoop skirt.
Vogue elects to refer to the designer’s vision as the “Dilaraverse,” a rapidly expanding universe that sees Findikoglu at the helm creating fashion for women, by women, without male influence.
