EMILIA WICKSTEAD – MBFWA RESORT 2019

SHOW: Matchesfashion.com X Emilia Wickstead – Resort 2019
LOCATION: Wylie’s Baths, 4B Neptune St, Coogee
DATE: May 15
START TIME: 1PM + 26 mins

Emilia Wickstead Resort 2019 – Review

INSPIRED BY: Vintage beach huts lining Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast and the elites that basked in the sunshine on the vacation hotspot’s shores in the 70’s, and American photographer Slim Aarons’ iconic Hollywood snaps of tinsel town’s socialites, jetsetters and celebrities.
POP-CULTURE NOD: Marietine Birnie snapped by Aarons while snorkeling at the Blue Lagoon, Kemmuna, Comina, in Malta in July, 1959. Think Miranda Kerr sporting a side braid while lounging on the shores of Fiji’s Laucala Island while on her honeymoon with beau Evan Spiegel.
WEAR IT TO: The Harvard-Yale annual rowing regatta on the Thames River, near New London, Connecticut, before heading to Ocean Beach Park to clock-up your underwater miles in the Olympic-size pool.
FIRST READ: You’d be hard-pressed to find a more iconic backdrop for the debut of a resort and swimwear line than the heritage-listed tidal pool in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs on a cracking Autumn morning, but Wickstead’s decision to nab the spot for the launch of her collaboration with matchesfashion.com paid-off in spades. From the live four-piece brass band that greeted attendees on arrival to the morning martini, to the matching day beds in the designer’s trademark floral print, guests were treated to an Instagrammer’s dream as models descended the wooden staircase in demure one-piece suits and swimming caps, feminine wetsuits, bloomers and crop tops with billowy sleeves, and cover-ups in the form of high-waisted skirts and wearable shift dresses.
BEST LOOK: A sleeveless blazer with an exaggerated collar in white with a flirty floral print, styled with matching bloomers and a 1940’s-inspired swimming cap.
EYE-CATCHING ACCENTS: Natural Panama hats with white fabric chin ties, silk headscarves, slides in fabrics matching the prints on swimwear, flippers, old-school cameras and books used as props.
SPOTTED IN THE FROW: Kate Waterhouse, Nadia Fairfax, Elliot Garnaut.
OVERHEARD COURTSIDE: “I haven’t been to Coogee since the Coogee Bay Hotel introduced facial recognition technology to help stop bar fights almost ten years ago.”
COLOR WHEEL: Pink, Kelly green, white, aqua, cobalt blue, peach.
SHOP THE BRAND NOW.