Marking twenty years of his independent house, Erdem Moralioglu turns the page with a monograph that reads like memory — and looks like poetry
Two decades into a career defined by narrative, Erdem Moralioglu has found a new medium for his storytelling: the page. Published by Rizzoli, ERDEM is the first monograph dedicated to the British designer’s world — a 367-page journey through the imagination that has shaped one of fashion’s most poetic voices.
Fashion, to me, has always been a way to tell stories,” Erdem writes in his introduction. “This book is a story built from fabrics, feelings, real lives and imagined ones.”
To mark twenty years of his independent house, ERDEM offers a layered portrait of a designer who has made history and literature his constant collaborators. Like his collections, the book folds time, culture, and emotion into a single narrative: one that reveals as much about process as it does about vision.
Structured around personal archives, primary sources, and conversations with long-time friends and muses, the volume features contributions from Anna Wintour, Christian Lacroix, Glenn Close, Hanya Yanagihara, Andrew Bolton, and Ruthie Rogers, among others. A striking new portrait series by Paul Kooiker features Guinevere van Seenus — who appeared in Erdem’s debut collection — embodying twenty archetypes of the designer’s heroines, from George Sand to Maria Callas.
Designed by A Practice for Everyday Life, the book mirrors Erdem’s own aesthetic rhythm — classical typography and tactile paper echoing his reverence for craft, while fragments of poetry and prose nod to his literary obsessions. Each page creates “unexpected encounters” between images and eras, revealing the texture of thought behind the clothes.
Born in Montreal to a Turkish father and British mother, Erdem founded his label in 2005 after graduating from the Royal College of Art. His collections have since unfolded across London’s most storied stages — from The British Museum to The National Portrait Gallery — and earned him both critical acclaim and an MBE for his contribution to fashion.
If Erdem’s shows have always been like chapters, ERDEM reads as both anthology and prologue: an act of preservation in a world built on ephemera. The final image — Raquel Zimmermann in a 2009 silk-and-lace ensemble before a Gilbert & George grid, photographed by Inez & Vinoodh — feels less like an ending than a promise.
ERDEM is available now via the brand’s flagship store in Mayfair, on erdem.com, and through Rizzoli stockists.