Most invitations do not come with a 48-page PDF reference deck. When Dilara FındıkoÄlu, the London-based Turkish designer whose macabre, Alexander McQueen-inspired work has earned her Madonna, Cardi B and Emma Corrin as clients, circulated a deck of hundreds of reference images for her Halloween soirée, the intention was pretty clear: last minute outfits for this Dark Versailles ball were not going to fly.
Instead, the instructions were a mash up of style notes from Steve Strange and Boy George, Fellini's Casanova, Soviet opera singer Sergei Lemeshev and the swans at Truman Capote’s infamous black and white masked ball. To put this in London party context; unless a brand has paid to dress someone, it's difficult to get them to change a shoe after work.
