Just in time for the high season of summer weddings, New Zealand-born, London-based luxury designer Emilia Wickstead has released her new annual bridal collection.
Since launching her first 10-piece bridal collection in 2017, the designer’s bridal category, which relaunched in 2023, has become a significant part of her brand. It now generates 65 percent of the business’ overall sales and experienced 140 percent growth last year. Bespoke bridal accounts for 90 percent of this category, with an average price point of 25,000 pounds.
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“I always say that we are for all women, and I think that we see that with our brides as well. We have brides from all over the world. New York and the United States [markets] are very, very substantial,” Wickstead explained of her USA-based bridal customer, which accounts for about 56 percent of her brides. She added that during the pandemic, the brand saw its bridal business begin to scale, leading to a doubling of her bridal team to eight employees. Wickstead also now travels five times a year for trunk shows in New York to reach clients beyond London.
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During her most recent trip in May, the designer hosted an event at the Manolo Blahnik store on Madison Avenue featuring a conversation with Kristina Blahnik. She also unveiled a collection of digital wedding invitations with Paperless Post this summer, and designed the new uniforms for Air New Zealand in April.
“I think more and more, it’s the American woman, the New York woman, understanding that we’re here and this is what we’re doing — that we’re showcasing bridal and they can go for an appointment. Bridal isn’t just the wedding dress. It is the party dress, the bridesmaid, everything,” Wickstead said. While many clients, especially those purchasing a bespoke wedding look, travel to the brand’s Sloane Street flagship in London, her trunk shows allow those in New York into her bridal world.
As seen through Wickstead’s Bridal Collection 03, the designer is playing into the popular ethos of offering plenty of formal white attire for beyond the wedding day, with bridal ready-to-wear starting at 1,500 pounds; the main bridal collection ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 pounds; demi-bespoke starting at 12,000 pounds and fully bespoke starting from 25,000 pounds. Beyond their direct retail channels, her more civil wedding and bridal party styles are also available on Net-a-porter, whom the brand has partnered with on the category for seven years.
The broad array spans from elegant core bridal gowns to party dresses and separates, each rooted in the brand’s signature design ethos of classicism, “that reframes classic ideals with a tension between ideals of Britishness and Internationalism,” the designer said. Furthermore, the collection continues to serve as an extension of her luxe ready-to-wear, with clean, architectural lines; Old World inspirations, and bridal-esque lace layers.
“I have always loved the structure behind designs from a bygone era, which informs so many details in our bridal collections. There’s a quiet drama and refined romance that I find so compelling, that it is almost cinematic,” she said of the collection.
In addition to accessories and reworked classics, like her bestselling, minimalist-bent ivory silk mikado Viva dress with Sophia scarf train, the collection features nine new gowns, such as the strapless Ailis ballgown with embellished clusters adorning its full skirt or the adorable after-party-ready ivory crepe Jonah minidress.
Wickstead explained that when designing each collection, she’s inspired by not only historical muses, architectural lines and Old world couture but by the global, modern brides she works with from New York to London.
“I’m always inspired by our brides — they are at the heart of everything I do and remain my greatest muses. That’s when the best comes out of Emilia Wickstead, when we can use the actual bride as our muse. That I think feels really believable and organic, and is very true to who we are as a brand,” she said.
“Being here and doing trunk shows in New York, you’re really understanding what a different demographic and what other people want. The learning that you get from that really helps when you’re developing new ideas,” Wickstead explained. “At the end of the day, I can be as fantastical as I want in terms of design, but it’s really, really important to also understand what our customer wants.”
Wickstead’s frequent visits to New York City also signal the brand’s search for a permanent retail home in the Big Apple.
“My eyes are always open,” Wickstead said of looking into potential future retail expansion, noting she’s always envisioned the city as the brand’s “second home” while “testing the marketplace” through frequent trunk shows. “At the end of the day, your business is your baby and you’ve got to make sure that you have all the right foundations in place.”