Emilia Wickstead, the 'royal' designer who dresses Kate Middleton and Melania Trump: "I am inspired by the women around me"
Her impeccably cut garments, clean and minimalist silhouettes have conquered the most powerful women in the world of fashion, from Kate Middleton to Melania Trump, including Meghan Markle, Amal Clooney, Samantha Cameron, Charlotte Santo Domingo... Emilia Wickstead , the New Zealand designer who one day, as a child, wanted to be an actress, now dresses Hollywood stars, royals and the most elegant aristocrats and has become the new benchmark for luxury and femininity with a British stamp.
Her success is forged on solid foundations, tenacity and work. Before opening her first store in Knightsbridge in 2009 and founding her brand the year before, Emilia had studied at the British High School in Milan, where she moved at the age of 14 from her native New Zealand when her mother married a Italian. There she was "mesmerized and captivated by the city and its style," she tells us. And there her passion for fashion arose, which led her to study design and marketing at Central Saint Martin's in London, where she graduated with honors, and to work with the greats: Giorgio Armani, Narciso Rodríguez..., and also in a restaurant, a maitre d' four nights a week, an extra income to be able to open his first atelier. "My mother always pushed me to work hard," she remembers.
Now her firm, which began as a bespoke model, is found in some of the world's most prestigious stores including Net-A-Porter, Harrods, Matchesfashion, Printemps and MyTheresa, and Emilia designs just about everything from her collections, which she presents at London Fashion Week, to bespoke pieces, wedding dresses or precious bottles of water for the microbeverage brand Waterdrop, one of her latest projects.
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- When did she know that she wanted to be a designer? Do you remember any special date or the day she started her love for fashion?
- At 14, when I moved to Milan. Everything seemed magnificent to me and it opened my eyes to the world of luxury. It was a vast empire that I had never seen before and I completely fell in love with it. But at the same time, the way of doing things was quite rigid and I didn't really know how I could fit in there. I was different from my schoolmates, both because of culture and circumstances, and being away from my family, I sometimes lacked self-confidence. My mother always encouraged me to pursue my ambitions and keep going.
- What is the hallmark of the garments that she designs? Why is an Emilia Wickstead piece recognized?
- I like to play with old world themes and combine the tradition and romance of bygone eras, but always with a modern twist. I focus on architectural silhouettes to create timeless and elegant garments, with a clear point of distinction. An Emilia Wickstead design is feminine, yet bold and empowering.
- And who does she draw inspiration from when designing? What are her references?
- As a child, I was greatly influenced by two generations of women in my family: my mother, who worked as a fashion designer in New Zealand, and my grandmother. Both extraordinary women, with good taste, who taught me the value of dressing well. I am an "old-fashioned" soul and sometimes I long for the past, when it was customary to dress well at home. That feeling of nostalgia and the romanticism of previous times is part of the DNA of my brand, although always with a modern touch.
- Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and aristocrats are faithful to her designs. What do your garments have for them to choose? Are the pieces you design aimed at this type of woman?
- Design for all women; I always think of a timeless style, effortless and sophisticated. This is the quintessence of every collection I create and it is what inspires me the most. It's not just about one type of woman. The women around me constantly inspire me; they are real women of all ages, each with their own unique story and who wear my clothes in their own way.
- Experts assure that beauty and self-esteem are linked. Fashion and self-esteem too?
- As a fashion designer, I truly believe that the right clothes have the power to make you feel confident and strong, to make you the best version of yourself. It is a feeling of inner empowerment that continues to be reflected externally.
- And what makes you feel good?
- Take some time to unwind after a date like London Fashion Week. And spending time with my family, it's the most important thing for me, it works wonders.
- What makes your day when you walk into your workplace?
- The positive energy of the team and their dedication to our business. I am very proud of them and everything we achieved together.
Like all great fashion brands, for Emilia Wickstead growing also means diversifying and expanding her creative universe. In this sense, it has just customized the bottles of the microbeverage brand Waterdrop with one of the prints from its spring-summer 2022 collection, a tiny and compact cube made with natural fruit and plant extracts, sugar-free and enriched with vitamins, to flavor the water and make us drink more. "I love the bold rose print we've chosen, it's vibrant and exciting. I hope women will love wearing it," says the designer.
"I strive to create pieces that are timeless and elegant and that women want to wear year after year, so this collaboration with Waterdrop, with reusable and collectible bottles, seemed like a perfect extension of our universe. They are bottles to collect, which are that they will wear over and over again and that they will remain attractive throughout the years. I love rewearing the same clothes and rediscovering pieces from past collections in my closet," says the designer.
- What is the latest thing that she has designed?
- The spring-summer collection that I presented during London Fashion Week. It has a slightly surreal and melancholic touch, our muse has been romanticism. I draw a lot of inspiration from old movies and this season I've been looking at 'Last Year at Marienbad', a French Nouvelle Vague film from the 1960s that focuses on a romance that may or may not have happened.
- And what is the newest garment that cannot be missing from our wardrobe this season?
- My autumn-winter collection is inspired in part by the codes of Milanese tailoring and, specifically, by elegant tailoring. The 'Dida' jacket is a perfect example and it's the piece I'm looking forward to wearing. It's slightly fitted at the waist for a feminine, sculpted silhouette, and falls just right on the hips. It can be worn as a suit with matching trousers or with a pencil skirt. And for the complete look I'll wear our 'Elroy' trench coat. I love the simplicity and elegance of superimposing pieces of the same fabric. There is something very luxurious and comforting about it. Soft tailoring is also a great way to immediately feel put together, particularly when we head back to the office and social events.
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