ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories: Amazing Florals by ERDEM S/S 2013

A geodesic dome that looked as if it might have arrived from outer space took the place of a tent at Erdem Spring/Summer 2013 presentation. The structure was a subtle hint at the otherworldly happenings about to occur inside. Zoom in on the designer’s inspiration board this season and more extraterrestrial clues emerge, including the work of 1950s science-fiction novelist Zenna Henderson. “I was thinking about a woman from another planet coming down to earth,” said Erdem Moralioglu backstage after the show.

Where he has drawn from a painterly palette reminiscent of Monet’s waterlilies in the past, Erdem’s new florals radiated with hot hues more commonly found on Mars. Organza silk dresses were woven with neon orange, baby blue, and yellow petals that were like artificial colors in a box of candy, or as he put it, “toxic pastels.” A power shortage cut out the lights midway through the show. “Sometimes the spaceship malfunctions,” he said laughing. In some ways that moment only served to highlight the special effect of the clothes, and you could imagine how the Day–Glo embroidery would shimmer like traces of very chic kryptonite in a dark room.

The silhouette, on the other hand a wasp-waisted fifties line that was finished with a ruffled collar or a bejeweled neck spoke to a feminine approach to dressing that finds its footing in the real world. Though, with all the ingenious diaphanous layering, it was hard to tell where an appliqué lace skirt ended and a studded silk chiffon top began. In fact almost all of those looks came in one piece.

Erdem is launching a small collection of swim for resort 2013, and mastering the fit of a bikini helped him fine-tune the underpinnings of the collection. That hide-and-seek play on the body gave a subtle tension to the surface of his ladylike aesthetic, and the collection vibrated with ethereal newness. Even when the designer pulls in seemingly alien references and futurist techniques, he never loses sight of the fact that, ultimately, women want to look like heavenly creatures.