The Tamesis
Holed up in the modernist London home of British chef Ruthie Rogers, Kristin Scott Thomas is handing a plate of tomato-based pasta to Sheila Atim. Christopher Kane and Roksanda Ilinčić graced another corner (presumably digesting the Fall 2026 show), while Keira Knightley and Ambika Mod gazed in awe at The River Café owner’s beautifully minimalist décor designed by her late husband, Richard Rogers. Common ground? They came here to celebrate the 20th birthday of their friend Erdem Moralıoğlu’s brand.
The day before, more of Erdem’s inner circle—Glenn Close, Helen Mirren, Ruth Wilson, Ben Whishaw—were in the front row for his London Fashion Week anniversary show. They received a letter. In it, Erdem details “imagined conversations” he began twenty years ago with women in history—the poet Radcliffe Hall, the biologist Marianne North, the Duchess of Devonshire—who inspire him every season. “What unites them is curiosity and a resistance to succinct definition,” he says of his multifaceted muse. “They don’t always see eye to eye, and that’s the point.”
“Their voices bring the past into the present on which we build our future,” the message continues. “The conversation continues. This is not a show about nostalgia, it’s a show about continuity.” So, yes, the Fall 2026 collection looked back at the remarkable career of a man deeply committed to the helm of an independent British fashion house, but it wasn’t exactly a wistful trip down memory lane. “It’s literally taking things apart and merging them together into something new,” chuckles the Canadian creative, who can’t quite comprehend that 20 years have passed. When I asked him what he would remember about the Fall 2026 collection 20 years from now, he quipped: “I would think it was a little crazy, but in a very beautiful way.”
