Oh, what a show was that Erdem! It was breath-taking. On Moralioglu’s mood board, we had pictures of Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen, a proper woman “going bush,” unhinged by the jungle. That was the set today: dull, dark, slightly sinister. And that was also the scenario. Except that the woman Erdem had in mind was Victorian biologist and botanical artist Marianne North, who traveled the world and defined her profession to the point where there is a gallery dedicated to her at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, outside London. With amazing, Valentino-like tapestery and embroideries, the plasters of palm leaves, roses and other plants simply grew out from the dresses. Erdem compared that to “trapping something wild.” And it was the wildness of nature, rather than its order, that truly absorbed him in this collection. And all of that magical beauty was styled with simple, boyish broques. And that’s the essential Erdem look. Feminine, but with a masculine touch. Art by Stephen Eichhorn.