Dilara Findikoglu had the kind of summer most emerging designers could only dream of.
She dressed Margot Robbie in a racy strapless dress to the “Barbie” premiere after-party in London, one of the most high-profile red carpets of the year. Kylie Jenner pouted on Instagram in a red silk bra and champagne-colored corset and matching miniskirt, and Zendaya posed for Elle in a mohair bikini. At the MTV Video Music Awards, Cardi B wore a custom gown and matching cuffs made from thousands of silver hair clips.
Then there was the finale look from Ms. Findikoglu’s show last season, the “Joan’s Knives” dress, inspired by a vision of Joan of Arc returning from the dead for revenge. It was fierce feminized armor forged from Victorian silver cutlery and painstakingly set onto a curve-hugging black sheath. Hari Nef wore it for its red carpet debut (to the London “Barbie” premiere). Weeks later, Emma Corbin wore it on the cover of ES magazine, an accompanying fork sticking out of her hair.
Ms. Findikoglu’s loyal fan base on social media went berserk each time she chalked up a win. Seven years after starting her namesake label, and with a recent nomination for New Establishment women’s wear designer at the Fashion Awards, she seemed tantalizingly close to tipping from fashion groupie worship into a wider consciousness.
All this was headed toward a culmination during London Fashion Week, where her show was the most anticipated on the schedule. But then, just days before the start of the shows on Sept. 15, and after months of preparation, everything changed. There would be no runway show after all.
Over a Zoom call earlier this week, Ms. Findikoglu said she was sitting out the season, though not because of the anarchic streak for which she is known. She had to cancel the show, she said, if she wanted to keep her business afloat.
“This wasn’t something I wanted to do or a decision I took lightly, but the reality is we simply don’t have the finances for a…
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