Pippa Middleton could well be wearing bespoke Emilia Wickstead on her big day. Photos / Getty
Pippa Middleton could well be wearing bespoke Emilia Wickstead on her big day. Photos / Getty
When Emilia Wickstead married in Tuscany in 2011, she inadvertently created a starting point for a tangent of her then-recently established label, which was fast gaining a reputation for its modern, polished pieces imbued with a timeless kind of simplicity.
The New Zealand-born designer created her own wedding gown; acolumn dress with sweeping full over-skirt and a fitted bodice, over which she layered a sheer, jewelled jacket for the daytime portion of proceedings, reports the Telegraph.
"The first wedding dress I ever made was for myself. It was at a time when I had my business up-and-running but it was still very early days and I thought this is my moment to do whatever I like," Wickstead remembers.
"My wedding dress was featured by Vogue and American Town and Country and from there people started to come to us because they had seen that dress."
Six years on, Wickstead's bespoke bridal business has grown organically. Last year, she created Lady Charlotte Wellesley's dress for her marriage to Alejandro Santo Domingo.
The images of Wellesley arriving at the church in Grenada, Spain, for the society wedding of the year were beamed around the world, with Wickstead's grand yet streamlined and architectural design drawing much admiration.
The Viva Dress. Photo / Emilia Wickstead
"That really pushed the level of bespoke bridal to another level altogether," she confirms.
Now, Wickstead is finally launching a ready-to-wear bridal collection. The 10-piece offering spans a modern jumpsuit to a regal gown, and plenty of options in between with prices ranging from £2665 ($5000) to £10,000 ($18,600).
The Margo dress, with its thick shoulder straps and skirt which sweeps out from a nipped-in waist, is reminiscent of Wickstead's own wedding dress.
The Peggy offers a column, high-necked silhouette with an exposed back while the Tilda and the Claris seem to have been made for country nuptials in the breezy, gauzy fabrics which are a Wickstead signature.
The Peggy Dress. Photo / Emilia Wickstead
"Anything I've designed for this collection would be what I'd wear if I could get married 10 times," says the designer who counts Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Watson and The Duchess of Cambridge amongst her sophisticated devotees.
"They are made to be worn and then looked at 35 years down the line and still make you think 'That was beautiful.' "
She cites Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn's wedding looks, by Edith Head and Pierre Balmain respectively, as a source of timeless inspiration.
The Claris Dress. Photo / Emilia Wickstead
"I think sometimes that's been a little bit lost in today's world of bridal, so it was important to me to bring this old world back with this collection and to keep ticking that box."
So will Pippa Middleton arrive at St Mark's church, Englefield on May 20 wearing Emilia Wickstead? The designer is, naturally, tight-lipped on the subject but she is an obvious contender for the commission as a London-based designer with an elegant track record and as a favourite of the bride's big sister.
One thing is for sure: It would be Middleton's savviest sartorial decision yet if she has opted for Wickstead.
