Erdem Moralıoğlu typically starts each season with a specific muse in mind: in recent seasons, there’s been Deborah “Debo” Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (spring/summer 2024); Greek soprano Maria Callas, the subject of Pablo Larraín’s 2024 biopic (autumn/winter 2024); and the novelist Radclyffe Hall (spring/summer 2025). This season, though, he took a different approach, embarking on his first ever artist collaboration for autumn/winter 2025 with friend Kaye Donachie.
“I’ve never worked with anyone alive [before],” laughs Moralıoğlu, a week before his show at the British Museum. He first came across Donachie’s work via a mutual friend, before going on to buy several of her paintings and commissioning the Scottish artist to do a portrait of his late mother. “She’s really one of my favourite artists,” the designer says. “Kaye’s approach to portraiture is never about a reality; it’s about a feeling or an idea.”
Moralıoğlu is quick to emphasise that this collaboration wasn’t just surface level, although Kaye’s figurative work does feature directly on the clothes themselves, from the gauzy dresses to a coat with an oil painting created specifically for it. Beyond that, though, the designer describes the creative partnership as a “beautiful dance” between the two of them. “Her hand is throughout the whole thing, whether it’s as literal as an application or in spirit,” he explains.
Donachie concurs, describing the collaboration as a “poetic conversation, reflecting upon our personal approach to archival and biographical literature and history”. While Moralıoğlu hasn’t homed in on a specific muse this season, he describes the collection as featuring multiple fictional characters – with some of the preparatory sketches by Donachie being based off the likes of Virginia Woolf and Iris Tree.
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