Spring / Summer 2026 Dilara Findikoglu show in London review by Pedro Vasconcelos

Dilara Findikoglu’s SS26, Cage of Innocence, stages female oppression and fantasizes on its sweet destruction.

Of the many forms these metaphorical chains assumed, the first was chromatic: white. Bound by the expectation of purity, garments began as innocent—a frilly dress, a lace-trimmed cape—only to slide into sleazier incarnations.

Belts became the most obvious yet effective device: a tight cotton jersey T-shirt molded into the shape of the corset beneath it, three belts binding the legs of a sheer black dress.

At times, the metaphor’s veil was entirely sheer—a model in a pristine babydoll dress gagged by her metal headgear. At others, it was brilliant, as in a cherry-adorned dress. The fruit, long tied to the policing of women’s bodies, was crushed into a corseted silhouette, its red staining the sheer paneling. Delicious.

Kiss-lock bags, symbols of the ever-looming push for commerciality, bulged with those same cherries, spilling from the inside out.

The Turkish designer’s seedy glamour conjures fantasies of freedom at a time when fashion’s creativity is shrinking. Dilara isn’t reminiscing on fashion’s legends, she’s becoming one.

Text by Pedro Vasconcelos