The Style Shift - Blood, Sweat Tour, And Tears: From Rituals To Red Carpets, Dilara Findikoglu’s Year In Fashion
Its Dilara’s World and we’re just living in it.
Hello, January! The post-Christmas hangover, the never-ending cheese in the fridge, and the rain fudging my plans for a New Year’s Day walk (aka excuse for a lunchtime pint) - oh, how I’ve missed you! Stubborn to change in true Taurus fashion, the New Year is for me a time of reflection, not reinvention. Whilst secretly my heart is all aflutter with the inevitable style-shift of the New Year, before we look at what’s to come, I wanted to share my favourite fashion discovery of 2024 - Dilara Findikoglu. Embarrassingly late to the party (so much for “bonafide it-girl”), my introduction to the hauntingly brilliant Dilara World only materialised post Julia Fox’s appearance at the British Fashion Awards.
Characterised by a mixture of sharp lines in the form of fitted corsets and metal chains with soft, feminine fabrics of lace, silk, and mesh, Findikoglu invites us into a debauched world inspired by Islamic mythology, Marie Antoinette, and BDSM culture. The heavenly World of Dilara (as she calls the space her work occupies) is also heavily influenced by the politics of the outside world. For example, her FW23 show began with a reflection of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and she has been hailed by Vogue as, “one of the only designers to have acknowledged the humanitarian crisis taking place in Gaza”. Whilst the world of high fashion is often discarded as disconnected from and insensitive to the outside world (with many calling for the cancellation of the Met Gala in 2024 due to the Gaza crisis), it is so refreshing to see a designer not only addressing these crises, but seeing how they have shaped her collections.
Another huge source of inspiration for Findikoglu is the patriarchy, which through her AW24 show the designer aimed to pick apart stitch by stitch. Harper’s Bazaar called the show a “Mass Ritual to End Toxic Masculinity”. When I fell down the rabbit hole into Dilara’s World, I discovered that last year’s annual Dilara ball, themed a “Funeral of Toxic Masculinity” was actually a sequel to the show. A Versailles-inspired mourning event in which the only tears shed were from those who didn’t have the pleasure of attending.
A true icon, Findikoglu appears unfazed in the face of criticism. If anything, it spurs her on. The AW24 show poked fun at the right-wing media outlets who accused her of hosting a “Satanic Orgy” at the showcase for her SS18 collection, which saw tattooed models in blood-red garments and occult symbols parading around a London church. The designer took inspiration from the ensuing hate by using the headline “OMG Dilara Is Doing a Satanic Orgy at a London Church” on newspapers carried around by the models of her AW24 show.
Although I’ve shared some of the more high-brow anecdotes about Dilara so far, lest we forget that she came onto my radar for having dressed Julia Fox, and her affiliations with Charli XCX’s it-girl posse don’t stop there. Findikoglu actually designed the iconic One of Your Girls corset for Charli’s bestie Troye Sivan on the Sweat Tour. Another personal fave of mine from Dilara’s 2024 lookbook was Charli’s black-swan inspired gown for her appearance on SNL. The designer also made headlines this year for her collaboration with Heaven by Marc Jacobs, starring Gigi Hadid as the face of the collection. The campaign saw the designer producing an x-rated reimagining of the Topshop school skirt she was told to throw away as a teenager, and showcased Hadid in a barely-there baby tee held together by safety pins which bore the question: “Tell me God will Dilara go to Heaven?”.
Despite choosing to miss out on an SS25 show in the autumn in favour of other projects, Dilara’s following only seems to keep growing. With the release of Nosferatu earlier this year, gothic fashion is likely to receive more attention in 2025 - my hope is that this means we see more of Findikoglu this year. If the designer doesn’t make an appearance at next month’s fashion week, I’ll be pining for an invite to her annual ball instead.
Written by Lucy Wragg, Celebrity and Trends Correspondent
Edited by Daisy Packwood, Fashion Editor
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