Let the Avant-Garde Couture Speak: Emre Tamer’s London Fashion Week Show
London Fashion Week, held between 16th-20th February this year, witnessed fascinating fashion shows and Emre Tamer – London’s private show during the week “The Flowers of West Asia” attracted attention with the designs and the artists performing in the show. The designer introduced his Fall-Winter 2024-25 collection at Conway Hall and received positive reactions for his Mesopotamian-inspired designs.
Irmak Aytekin, London – For both womenswear and menswear, London Fashion Week makes it possible for visionary, talented designers to demonstrate their collections and in this way, the designs and fashion brands gain audience from all over the world. Besides trading purposes, the fashion week aims to highlight and appreciate the new and well-established British fashion designers. Like other big fashion weeks in New York, Paris and Milan, London Fashion Week happens twice a year, in February and in September. This year, the event is celebrating its 40th anniversary and famous fashion brands, including Burberry, dunhill, 16Arlington, ERDEM, David Koma, JW Anderson, Dilara Findikoglu and many more took part in the event. Emre Tamer’s participation in London Fashion Week with a private (off-schedule) show is a promising move as recently we have started to see more designers of Turkish origin in the British fashion world.
A Skyrocketing Career
Emre Tamer, who is an Austrian-Turkish fashion designer, had previously prepared collections for the London Fashion Week and he is known for his use of hand-painted and CAD Print designs. This focus on print designs can be attributed to his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice – Italy, where he completed his master’s degrees in both fashion design and painting. Tamer soon moved his brand to London and made his mark with silk scarves and blazers, which were complimented by the Tatler magazine. However, one of the biggest developments in his career happened when Tamer designed German actress Wilma Elles’ dress for the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Magazines and newspapers, such as Vanity Fair Italy, Hürriyet, Honey Magazine Australia, mentioned the silver pleated-tulle dress and its designer with great interest. It looks like Tamer’s fashion show this year will also be talked about since pleats and printed pieces remained at the forefront throughout the show.
Tamer’s “The Flowers of West Asia” took place on the 16th February, the first day of the fashion week. The event started with the reminder that all proceeds of the show will be used in aid of the earthquake victims in Hatay, Türkiye (through Unicef and TEV). Turkish Consul General B. Utku Atahan, Deputy Mayor Joanne McCartney and Zeynep Ober (TUBAC) attended the show and made speeches about the cultural bridges between the UK and Türkiye and about the victims severely impacted by the earthquake in Hatay. The audience experienced unforgettable moments when the world-famous Turkish pianist Gülsin Onay performed two pieces by Chopin and the dancer Ziya Azazi performed a modernised version of the whirling dance.
The Flowers of West Asia
The first model appeared on the runway with an avant-garde bridal dress; the white strapless gown was embroidered with little stones, it had fan-shaped pleated arm details and as a reference to the show’s concept, the dress was designed for the Queen of Mesopotamia. The outfits that appeared at the show were pleated and printed designs and it can be considered that these are the techniques that Tamer likes to use often in his works. Elements of nature, flowers and animal figures are some of the key aspects in his print outfits and the colours orange, red and blue stand out among other colours. On the other hand, the fashion designer’s orange and black women’s suit was an eye-catching couture since the jacket and trousers were covered with an orange pleated fabric on opposite sides. Towards the end of the show, two models appeared on the runway together – the male model only had a silk printed piece wrapped around his waist while the female model wore a blue dress with shaped holes in different places and it was praised by many.
With the clothes, accessories and the music, the show’s atmosphere felt as if it belonged to Mesopotamia and it received a big applause from the audience. Like Emre Tamer, fashion designers with a Turkish background are becoming increasingly successful in representing their works around the world.
