For Spring Summer 2027, Emilia Wickstead looks to the work and personality of artist Lee Krasner, one of the defining voices of Abstract Expressionism. Drawn to both the discipline and spontaneity of her practice, Wickstead takes Krasner’s constant pursuit of reinvention as a starting point for a collection that explores confidence, movement and the tension between structure and expression.
Light summer-wool dresses are precisely topstitched; oversized knits are layered over striped cotton artist shirts; sculptural lightweight tweed outerwear is left with loosely frayed edges. Softly engineered bias-cut separates and precise tailoring are countered by fluid silk chiffons and polished silks, creating a continuous interplay between structure and movement, restraint and spontaneity.
Painterly tweeds, romantic field daisies and layers of fraying and transparency bring an expressive quality to the collection, while Wickstead’s signature precision remains at its core. Hand-finished feather embellishment and painterly trims sit alongside delicate picot edging, bringing texture and substance without excess.
Colour is equally instinctive yet considered. Powder pink, pale blue, lemon and lime introduce an optimistic lightness, grounded by chocolate, charcoal and black. Florals and organic motifs reference Krasner’s lifelong relationship with the natural world, while the field daisy becomes a softer, more personal expression of the collection’s artistic starting point.
Beyond Krasner’s work, Wickstead was drawn to the attitude with which she lived and created: independent, curious and continually evolving.
“For me, fashion has never existed in isolation. It becomes meaningful through the life lived in it – where you go, who you are with and the moments you remember.” Emilia Wickstead
The Art of the Moment
For Spring Summer 2027, Wickstead extends this idea beyond the clothes through a creative conversation with restaurateur Jeremy King. Fashion and hospitality have long shared a relationship with occasion: the places we gather, celebrate and create memories are also the places we dress for.
Through film, their conversation explores the world in which the collection exists: not simply how clothes are presented, but how they are lived in. Fashion and hospitality have always been closely connected. Restaurants are social stages: places where people meet, celebrate, fall in love, do business and mark important moments.
King has an extraordinary understanding of how to create a sense of occasion and his restaurants feel timeless; there is a respect for classicism, but it is always interpreted for contemporary life. There is longevity in that approach – rather than simply responding to what is fashionable at that particular moment. Classicism in the modern world is something Jeremy does brilliantly with hospitality and something Emilia Wickstead continually explores through clothing.
“Jeremy and I both create for those moments, just in different ways. He creates environments and I create clothes – but ultimately we are both thinking about how people want to live and feel.’ Emilia Wickstead
@EmiliaWickstead
#EmiliaWicksteadSS27
Credits:
Videography: Robin Mellor
Photography: Edd Horder
Music: Milo McKinnon
Styling: Agata Belcen
Casting: Simone Schafer
Set Production: Studio E
Hair: Richard Phillipart
Make Up: Bobbi Brown
Nails: Ruuby
Jewellery: Jessica McCormack
Shoes: Grenson
Champagne: Drappier
Martinis: Simpson’s in the Strand
With Special Thanks to Jeremy King
