LONDON — Dearly beloved guests gathered at designer Dilara Fındıkoğlu’s annual Halloween gala, which this year was themed the “Funeral of Toxic Masculinity,” after the Turkish-British designer’s fall 2024 show.
“It’s a continuation of our fall 2024 collection. We reconfigured masculinity and tried to give it a new meaning. We’re saying goodbye to the old way of masculinity tonight,” said Fındıkoğlu after making her grand entrance at the glamorously Gothic Berners Tavern at the London Edition hotel.
The party, much like the show, was a Victorian mourning-inspired affair. A mannequin styled as the dead body of a Patrick Bateman-type businessman was positioned in the room’s entryway.
You May Also Like
Its biggest takeaway was the strict — but chic — dress code.
“Veils, corsets and a lot more corsets,” read the invitation’s strict dress code instructions. “Headpieces made from bad news, tokens made of masculinity, chiffon dresses made of his fragile ego,” it rattled on, leaving no room for outfit faux pas.
If the strict edict weren’t enough, reference images of ladies wearing lace veils, wasp-waisted men wearing cinched corsets, and plenty of poufy taffeta and tulle skirts were attached to the invitation’s 50-page PDF file.
Given the high stakes, guests didn’t disappoint. Layers of gauzy chiffon were cinched with bustiers and ruffs were made from shredded newspaper. But the most fabulous outfits were restyled from the February show’s runway.
Pieces from the show were on display, including deconstructed Victorian skirts flung high to show the mechanics of the undergarment. Other guests, including some of the models from the show, wore keys and pin-striped ties stashed in their stockings or bras.
After downing a cocktail or two — and sufficiently showing off their outfits — guests, including American DJ Honey Dijon, sat down to a feast, which looked delicious but must have been difficult to digest given all of the elaborate corsetry that guests were wearing.
