Author: Osman Ahmed

LONDON — Tucked away in the corner of Erdem Moralioglu‘s dove grey office, housed in the designer’s slick new headquarters, still scented with the tang of fresh paint, the Duchess of Windsor hovers with a furrowed brow. This is the American socialite, later turned aristocrat, who threatened to bring down the British monarchy with her svelte figure and innate sense of style — all electric Schiaparelli and bold Cartier jewels — and who famously quipped that one could “never be too rich or too thin.” It’s easy to imagine her wearing the designer’s namesake label, Erdem, with its ornate embellishment,…

NEW YORK, United States — “I remember once Guido [Palau] and I were flying to New York first class and someone saw us and wrote that you would have given us a wide berth,” says Melanie Ward, the British stylist who rose to fame in the late ’80s as the prophetess of raw, gritty fashion imagery. “It was all quite manicured. Once on the flight, I was in my cashmere sweater (because even then I liked a little bit of luxury); I had sanded the sleeves to get holes in the elbows, and this gentleman came up to me and…