Opening Erdem’s S/S 2024 show at the British Museum in September 2023, model Tasha Tilberg emerged wearing a particularly beautiful, somewhat elaborate iteration of the classic Barbour jacket: ankle length and boasting proportions more akin to an evening gown, its waxed exterior arrived overlain with a quilted floral layer.
The coat, and the show’s subsequent 42 looks, were inspired by the late Duchess Deborah Devonshire (Debo) and marked the initial offering from Erdem Moralıoğlu’s rich study of Chatsworth House, the Derbyshire mansion the youngest Mitford sister moved into with her husband, Lord Andrew Cavendish, in 1959, the revamping (and ultimately saving) of which she oversaw. While the floral outer of Tilberg’s coat repurposed Debo’s original curtains, further pieces in the collection riffed on Debo’s fondness for Elvis (a series of leather jackets) and echoed her affection for chickens (the gnawed hem of a tweed suit).
