For Pre Spring 27, ERDEM looks to the life of Barbette, the Texan-born trapeze artist and performer who captivated Paris in the 1920s and 30s. A muse to Jean Cocteau and Man Ray, Barbette was a surreal character of beguiling ambiguity at a moment in history when shape shifting identities could be both glamour and disguise. ERDEM’s collection is an exploration of androgyny and performance.
Barbette defied definition. Performing suspended high above audiences in elaborate costumes, he appeared as a woman, only revealing his male identity towards the close of the act. It was this tension between artifice and reality, masculinity and femininity, strength and fragility, that fascinated Cocteau so deeply. For ERDEM, Barbette’s world is a meditation on duality and the poetry of transformation.
The collection explores these contrasts. Feminine shapes inspired by 1920s showgirl and acrobatic costumes are set against sharper, more masculine tailoring. Structured grey suiting and workwear-inspired fabrics are juxtaposed with translucent organza, crumpled satin and glamorous evening pieces.
A new silhouette, lifted from archival 1920s shapes, emerges with exaggerated pannier-inspired cage constructions. Fitted bodices open into suspended volumes that feel simultaneously theatrical and architectural, echoing the spectacle of circus costume. Dresses appear caught in motion, their forms shaped by flight and momentum. Blurred prints evoke movement and disorientation, matching the frenetic image of the acrobat mid-performance.
Heavy embellishments recall the glamour of Parisian stage costumes, though here they are subtly fractured and deconstructed: broken crystals, trailing feathers and distressed textures lend an imperfection. Evening dresses have a jewelled delicacy, grounded by masculine tailoring or utilitarian denim with an edge of modernity.
Underlying the collection is Cocteau’s fascination with artifice as a form of beauty – the idea that transformation itself can reveal something truthful and profound. Barbette’s image challenged fixed notions of identity and appearance, offering instead something illusive and elusive.