In 2020, Emilia Wickstead decided to add a little narrative flair to her fall lookbooks by shooting the clothes on the community of creative women around her. (Initially, she was inspired by the portraits in the 1999 book Us and them by Alice Springs, aka Helmut Newton’s wife.) It’s an approach that has developed over the past three years into a trilogy of lookbooks and become a clever showcase for how Wickstead’s clients wear her designs: from day to day night, from the office to school, and always rooted in real life. “It felt like my own study of the modern woman,” she says.
While last year’s lookbook showcased the London women she followed, her latest collection opens a new chapter – this time by looking at Manhattan, where Wickstead interned with Proenza Schouler and Narciso Rodriguez during her college years. “I had a fantastic year in New York and I always dreamed of returning there,” she says. But while Wickstead may have a sentimental reason for heading toward Gotham, there’s also a more pragmatic explanation: the United States is currently her fastest-growing market, and as of this season she has a new group of traders on that side of the aisle. pond. “It felt like a very natural progression to go to New York,” she says. “And hopefully a statement that feels humbling: I wanted it to be a love letter to the city.”
The cast of characters she assembled for the shoot—captured over three days this summer, from the Upper East Side to the Staten Island Ferry—may be a love letter to the city, but it’s also a case study in its evolving appeal brand. There are the high society women you’d expect to see in Wickstead’s milieu, as well as the next generation of tastemakers in film, fashion and contemporary art, photographed on the stoops of their Brooklyn brownstones or shuffling along sidewalks. Because she was still working on the collection during casting, the final touches were made with those women in mind. “I loved that every time we dressed someone and selected options, they became part of the story,” says Wickstead.
So it makes sense that besides the catnip for her loyal customers – airy floral prints, tweed and bouclé skirt suits, Klimt-inspired gold metallic jacquards – the more subdued and playfully designed moments shone brightest. FashionNaomi Elizée in a strapless hourglass dress covered in, say, fluoro green roses and peonies, laid over a chunky ribbed knit, artfully unbuttoned to create a louche open neckline. Stylist Melissa Levy in a chunky knit fisherman sweater and a ’90s-inspired pencil skirt, adorned with shimmering hand-sewn bead embellishments. The cut‘s fashion director Jessica Willis in a Prince of Wales check bustier and skirt and a matching printed jacket. It was a masterclass in translating Wickstead’s very British sensibility into something bold and quintessentially New York.
There has been a growing (and long overdue) conversation in recent months about the disproportionate number of men designing women’s clothing in the upper echelons of the industry. Wickstead’s clothes are a subtle yet clear example of why clothes made by women have a unique magic – which is why an army of New York’s most stylish dressers jumped aboard the Emilia Wickstead train for this lookbook. But the real reason is that Wickstead’s thoughtful, flattering designs make them look and feel really good. What more can you ask for than that?
