There's something about Dilara Findikoglu From Bella Hadid to Emrata, the it girls have a new favourite designer

From Róisín Pierce's delightful bandage dress for Alexa Chung to Luar's dramatic midnight blue gown for Paloma Elsesser to Harris Reed's pin-up silhouette for Ashley Graham, last year's Met Gala was not only a sometimes goliardic, sometimes moving tribute to the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld, but also a triumph of emerging brands. Among the many wunderkinds who painstakingly took the stage on fashion's most eagerly anticipated red carpet, one of them had the approval of the coolest it-girls of the moment. What do Bella Hadid, Iris Law, FKA Twigs, Lady Gaga and Emily Ratajkowski have in common besides impeccable style curated at great expense by a staff of loyal fans? A passion for the creations of Dilara Findikoglu, the designer chosen by Emrata for the Met's after-party amid seductive transparencies, exposed lingerie and miles of Charleston-style necklaces. Creations that combine Victorianism and burlesque, religious icons and punk feminism, recycled objects and a circus-like flavour, the most deeply rooted subcultures of our century come together in the creations of a designer who shows us how, in a world where everything seems to have been done, surprises are still possible.

But it is now common knowledge that an attractive design is often not enough to stay on the crest of the wave or to convert one's media presence into sales. For Findikoglu, the extra quid is an aesthetic on the border between the sacred and the profane that recalls Islamic influences, and an approach to the body and feminism that bears witness to those who have experienced the most extreme excesses of patriarchy first-hand. It is a message that starts from its origins and becomes a manifesto of the female body, expressed in the creative direction through the choice of artists with similar tastes, as in the case of the campaign for Yorgos Lanthimos' 2021 skimwear campaign, between alienating beaches and couture beachwear. An engaged fashion that also addresses social and political issues. We got a taste of this at the last FW, where the protests in Iran over the assassination of Mahsa Amini set the scene for a fashion show that was both dreamlike and disturbing: «The way they cut their hair in the street really inspired me - says Fındıkoğlu - It was so powerful.» So she took the hair and turned it into bralette tops and bustiers that braided around the breasts and cinched the waist of the belly. The collection, titled Not a Man's Territory, is a call to women who have suffered injustice to claim what is rightfully theirs: themselves.