Although Turkish-British designer Dilara Fındıkoğlu is not religious, she considers churches to be a “super safe” space.
The designer returned to the London Fashion Week schedule after canceling her show last season in order to save funds for her business.
Fındıkoğlu continued as she intended to continue, showing corset-like bodices in pale yellow; bright red leather balconette bras; Victorian skirts deconstructed and lifted to show the mechanics of underwear; and black or red leather dresses with silver hardware.
The designer ordered the models to be “intimidating and bewitching” as they wandered the eerie halls of Mark Street Garden, also known as St. Michael's Church, with keys and personal items hidden in their stockings or bras.
“I really like the female form and as a designer I just need to celebrate the body,” Fındıkoğlu said backstage, dressed in red and carrying a pair of scissors as she took her bow.
The last four dresses she showed seemed caught in motion, a technique in which fabric is dipped in resin that the designer used eight years ago for her graduate collection at Central Saint Martins.
Not everyone present may understand Fındıkoğlu's extravagant collections, but she always has a way of keeping your attention during her 20-minute long show.
