He’s a designer loved by both Kate Middleton, the new Princess of Wales, and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, but the man behind the eponymous fashion brand Erdem is relatively unknown outside of the fashion world.
Erdem Moralioglu was born in Montreal in 1977 and studied at Ryerson University before moving to London to study at the Royal College of Art in 2001. The designer interned with Vivienne Westwood before working briefly with Diane von Furstenberg in New York .
In 2005, Moralioglu founded Erdem, based in London, which relies heavily on block printing and patterns and designs found in nature.
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Kate began wearing Erdem designs shortly after marrying Prince William in 2011 and became a prolific client, most notably wearing the brand’s evening wear designs.
Meghan was a fan of Erdem’s pieces before marrying Prince Harry in 2018, often wearing the label’s earth-toned daytime pieces. The Duchess wore an elegant bespoke Erdem outfit to celebrate the Commonwealth while expecting her first child, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.
Here, Newsweek showcases some of the best Erdem fashion moments of the two royal families.
Kate at the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Gala, 2015
An early piece of Erdem evening wear worn by Kate debuted at the 100 Women in Hedge Funds Gala held at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum in 2015.
The sleeveless design in bold blue and red printed silk, with white and green detailing, featured a floral motif with a ruffled bottom skirt.
At the time of the event, the dress was on sale as part of Erdem’s ready-to-wear collection and cost $3,261.
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Kate in Sweden, January 2018
During visits to Norway and Sweden in 2018 while expecting her third child, Prince Louis, Kate wore two eye-catching Erdem evening dresses.
For an official dinner at the British Ambassador’s residence in Sweden, attended by Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and her husband, Prince Daniel, Kate wore a high-neck evening dress with long sleeves and frill detailing.
The golden silk design featured the classic Erdem floral motif in blue and pink. It’s part of the designer’s Fall/Winter 2017 collection, priced at $2,595.
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Kate at Buckingham Palace, February 2018
To wear to a special Commonwealth Fashion Reception at Buckingham Palace on February 19, 2018, Kate opted for another Erdem design, this time in monochrome with a floral lace overlay.
The calf-length design with elbow-length sleeves looks like an elongated version of the label’s Suzi Guipure lace dress, which retails for $2,975.
During the event, Kate met fashion industry heavyweights such as Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and British Fashion Council Chief Executive Caroline Rush.
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Kate at the Victoria and Albert Museum, October 2018
One of Kate’s more subtle Erdem looks she wore for the first time during a visit to the photo galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum on October 10, 2018.
The asymmetric tweed shoulder design featured a Prince of Wales check pattern. (At the time, her father-in-law, now King Charles, was the Prince of Wales.) When Queen Elizabeth II died last September, one of Charles’ first acts as monarch was to make Prince William the new Prince of Wales. Kate thus became the Princess of Wales.
The bejeweled strap and button design was part of Erdem’s Spring 2018 collection and was known as the Iman Dress.
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Meghan at Canada House, March 2019
Although a fan of Erdem designs for years before her marriage, Megan doesn’t seem to have worn the label often to public events after marrying Harry. One notable exception to this was in March 2019, at an event supporting the Commonwealth Youth Programme, while she was expecting her first child, Archie.
The empire green tweed dress and coat design with black floral embroidery was worn at an event at Canada House in London. It was a custom interpretation of a design featured in Erdem’s Fall/Winter 2019 collection.
The design has drawn aesthetic comparisons to the outfit Princess Diana wore while expecting Prince William in 1981.
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Kate at the Chelsea Flower Show, May 2019
She wore one of Kate’s more recent Erdem fashion looks to greet Queen Elizabeth at the Chelsea Flower Show, where Kate participated in the design of an early childhood development garden.
The royal wore a modified version of one of Erdem’s most popular designs, the Sheba floral silk and cotton dress.
The dress featured one of the brand’s signature floral prints, which included the unforgettable knot flower, known to have been Diana’s favourite.
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Meghan at the Festival of Remembrance, November 2019
Another of Meghan’s most memorable Erdem fashion looks was seen at the Festival of Remembrance performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall on November 9, 2019.
The Duchess wore an Erdem Merril dress in black jacquard, with an exaggerated neckline inspired by 1950s designs.
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James Crawford-Smith is Newsweekroyal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories further NewsweekThe Royals Facebook page.
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