Emilia Wickstead (born June 1983) is a New Zealand-born fashion designer based in London, England. In 2014 she won the Red Carpet Designer of the Year Award at the

Elle Style Awards The Elle Style Awards are an awards ceremony hosted annually by ''Elle'' magazine. List of award winners 2017 The 2017 edition of the Elle Style Awards took place on 13 February 2017. * Style Influencer of the Year: Debbie Harry * TV Actress of t ...

, and her clients include

Samantha Cameron Samantha Gwendoline Cameron (; born 18 April 1971) is an English businesswoman. Until 13 May 2010, she was the creative director of Smythson of Bond Street. Her husband, David Cameron, was the British prime minister from 2010 to 2016. She took ...

, and the

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was firs ...

Early life

Wickstead was born in June 1983, in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand to Angela Wickstead, a designer with a boutique in Parnell. At the age of 14 she and her mother moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy. Wickstead studied fashion design and marketing at

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

art school in London and interned in New York at

Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer. He first gained notoriety working for Cerruti and then for many others, including Allegri, Bagutta and Hilton. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expande ...

and Vogue magazine.

Career

At the age of 24, Wickstead's boyfriend gave her £5,000 to start her business. She created a small collection of clothes and held showings for family and friends in her living room, taking orders for made-to-measure items. Her work was featured in ''

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

'' and UK ''Vogue'' magazines, and she was able to expand, opening a store in

Belgravia Belgravia () is a Districts of London, district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' Tudor Period, during the ...

, and employing a team of seamstresses. She had her first showing at

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London twice a year, in February and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fashion wee ...

in 2012, and holds shows and consultations in New Zealand, New York and Milan. Wickstead's style has been described as "graceful", "understated elegance" and her choice of colours as "pretty but not saccharine". In May 2018, Wickstead claimed that the wedding dress of Meghan Markle was "identical" to one of her designs.

Recognition

* Shortlisted for the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 * Shortlisted for a British Fashion Award for New Establishment Designer in 2014 and 2015 * Won the Walpole Award for Brands of Tomorrow 2015 * Shortlisted for the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award 2015 * Won Elle magazine’s Style Award for Red Carpet Designer of the Year 2014 * BFC Fashion Trust recipient 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wickstead, Emilia 1983 births Living people 21st-century New Zealand people People from Auckland Alumni of Central Saint Martins New Zealand fashion designers New Zealand women fashion designers New Zealand businesspeople