LONDON — Dilara Findikoglu, one of the hottest tickets at London Fashion Week, has ambitions to grow, and go global, starting with her spring 2026 show.

She’s introducing handbags, presenting more ready-to-wear looks and amping up wholesale and direct-to-consumer operations.

“I want to remain unique, but I have always had very big dreams for myself. I am commercializing in a Dilara way and keeping my couture and arty pieces, but I want to connect to more people and I want to see everybody look like a Dilara person,” said Findikoglu during an interview in her studio.

“What I bring to the table is conceptual and intellectually sexy clothing, which I can’t find around. I’m basically making clothes that I want to wear. I’m an expressive and outspoken designer, and we will one day have white T-shirts with the Dilara logo on it, but it’s not yet.”

Her signature dark, Gothic looks will be under the spotlight in a spring 2026 show titled “Cage of Innocence.” The show will be staged inside a house that’s meant to replicates an old village house, one not so dissimilar to Marie Antoinette’s countryside retreat, Hameau de la Reine, on the grounds of Versailles.

Findikoglu is also welcoming a new color palette of nudes, pink and white that will offset the darker looks.

She said the idea of white came instinctively, adding that it’s often associated with “virginity, brides or girls in white dresses in the countryside or in villages. But in this collection, the white dress becomes sexy.”

She plans to show off sultry, deconstructed silhouettes, soft ruffled cuffs and sheer fabrics. She’s adorned an antique-looking, cream dress with red cherries made from silicone. She said she liked the idea of a “cute cherry girl.”

The Turkish-born designer is also growing the business, and launching new categories.

Her debut handbag, which will appear on the runway, comes in three styles: leather, python effect and the same fabric she’s using for the couture dresses in the collection. The handbag has a rectangular shape similar to a vintage doctor’s bag, with a compact mirror hanging from a chain on the side.

“If somebody is buying couture from me, I’d also like to make a bag matching their outfit. I don’t design single pieces, I design everything as a full look,” she said.

“Sometimes I feel like a doctor in the studio because my work is so intricate and [detailed]. We definitely do a lot of surgery on the garments. As much as we’re a dark brand, I am very into glamour. I love dressing up. I love makeup and hair,” she added.

With handbags on the way, she’s now setting plans for a cosmetics collection. She also wants to open stores in London, France and Italy.

“My dream is to have a store in Palais Royal and another in Venice because it’s my favorite city in the world. It’s [also] important to have a physical store in London because we have so many bespoke clients at this stage and they just need the Dilara experience,” Findikoglu said.

She said 50 percent of sales come from the couture arm of the business, with ready-to-wear making up the rest. Rtw sales are divided between wholesale and e-commerce.

The brand’s wholesale accounts include H.Lorenzo, Antonioli, Ssense and Antidote in Atlanta.

“People have this misconception that I don’t do ready-to-wear that much, but actually most of my pieces are ready-to-wear, apart from the feathered pieces. For some people, ready-to-wear can be a white T-shirt and jeans, for me, it’s not,” said the designer.

Her punky designs have spanned from Hollywood to K-pop and have been worn by the likes of Cate Blanchett, Kim Kardashian, Margot Robbie, Dua Lipa and Blackpink’s Rosé and Lisa.

The designer has become a recognized figure in her own right with her strong aesthetic of jet black hair, pale skin and red lipstick.

Findikoglu has weathered many storms since launching her brand in 2016, including sitting out the spring 2024 season to keep her business afloat.

“My biggest learnings have been through being nearly bankrupt a few times, but I never stopped believing in myself, even in the worst of times,” she said.

Her rebellious streak has always seen her to get ahead.

She graduated with a BA Fashion degree from Central Saint Martins in 2015, but was not shortlisted for the annual graduate collection show. In response, Findikoglu staged her own guerrilla fashion show outside the show’s entrance, which certainly generated a lot of headlines.

Findikoglu’s resilience remains intact and so do her goals.

“I want to be a game changer for how women with similar backgrounds to me are seen in the world. I want to create a Dilara empire,” Findikoglu said.

Her Turkish and Muslim upbringing has only been a boon to challenge her belief systems. When she left her home country to study at Central Saint Martins, her brother stopped speaking to her for 10 years. “He thought I was going to become a bad girl in their eyes because a woman shouldn’t be free to go to a different country or even go out to dinner by herself,” she said.

Findikoglu nods to the hardship in the title of her spring 2026 collection.

“I have been trying to heal my ancestral trauma. I have been remembering all of the women from my past who never had freedom and who were put in cages of innocence,” she said.

“I’m still breaking free, and I grew up in an environment where men always had more power and freedom. When I was growing up, I didn’t see one single woman who had a job or ran a business. I always learned power from men and thinking power comes in a masculine way. I’m now coming to peace with my vulnerability and I’m definitely the first person that has had this much freedom within my own family.”