Joining Forces: Emilia Wickstead and Nadine Ijewere in Conversation

Emilia Wickstead

Let’s talk about how we met and how we came to know each other’s work. For me, I was immediately drawn to the emotional depth in your photographs and how you speak to and champion women of today – capturing real presence and sincerity. Your lens doesn’t impose a narrative, instead it draws out the subject’s own story. I love how you directed this with so much passion.

Nadine Ijewere

I first came across your brand through [fashion editor] Kate Phelan and I remember being immediately drawn to the way you approached design. Your pieces felt so considered, classic in spirit but reimagined with contemporary patterns and silhouettes. There was an elegance and strength to them that really spoke to me. I’ve always been drawn to clothing that feels like a kind of uniform, something effortless but thoughtful, and your two-piece coordinates captured that perfectly. Then of course we connected more personally when you made my second dress for my wedding, which was such a meaningful moment.

EW

I loved making your dress for you, and I always wanted to work with you on something like this. When Harry Lambert and I styled this show we always knew we wanted a story, and it was only you who we wanted to tell it. Tell me about how you creatively directed this, and your ideas around the narrative and casting.

NI

When you first reached out about the project, I was excited because I knew it would be rooted in storytelling, and that’s where I feel most connected. I wanted the imagery to feel like a visual archive. There was such a strength in the collection and I really wanted that to come through in the casting; faces that felt timeless but also modern, with presence and individuality. It was important to me to create images that feel lasting but still speak to the world we live in now. Women with character. I loved the energy from the fashion show, so I wanted to bring some of those elements into the hair and makeup, too. It was about building characters that felt real but elevated, carrying the emotion of the clothes into the portraits in a subtle, and honest way. I love how your background has shaped your world and your narrative – especially when it comes to casting and the women you see wearing your clothes.

EW

It’s true. I was born in New Zealand, I spent four of my formative years in Milan, I trained in London. I grew up around strong women with sharp aesthetics and endless resilience – I was raised by my grandmother and my mother (who founded her own business as a designer herself). And so I think a slightly outsider perspective has always stayed with me. It means I don’t see beauty in just one form. I cast for character. For nuance. I’m interested in a woman who has something to say.

NI

How did you approach this collection, what was your starting point and where did it lead?

EW

Hitchcock’s “The Birds” – but not Hitchcock’s gaze. I was drawn to the women who shaped the film’s legacy: [costume designer] Edith Head, Tippi Hedren and Daphne du Maurier. Each of them brought a different layer of feminine complexity: costume as identity, presence under pressure, psychological depth. It wasn’t about recreating the past, but about reclaiming their voices. That tension – between vulnerability and power – shaped everything from the tailoring to the palette. There’s a quiet drama running through the collection that feels both cinematic and subversively modern. Your images capture that so beautifully, and I think it’s also because you’re a woman. I love working with women.

NI

Thank you! There are so many male designers in this industry, and it’s run by male executives; how does that make you feel as a female designer and a female founder?

EW

The female gaze still feels like the exception, not the rule, in fashion. And yet, women wear the clothes. Women in the clothes. Being both designer and founder, I get to claim that space on my own terms and I am showing that femininity can be intelligent, structured, political – even confrontational. When it comes to your own work, what excites you now? What do you want to do more of – or less of?

NI

I know now that I want to do more projects with storytelling at the centre. Narrative has always been the thing that drives me. I want to create more personal work again, the kind that feels close and true. And I want to travel more to shoot in places that are unfamiliar, and that inspire something new. Being somewhere different always opens me up creatively. It’s something I really want to make space for.

EW

I hope you do! You very recently became a mother; one thing about motherhood is that it gave me a reason to work harder, it shifted my mindset. Tell me about motherhood for you, is it everything you thought it might be? What does it mean to you?

NI

Motherhood has changed me in ways I’m still discovering. It’s been beautiful, overwhelming, grounding and at times incredibly challenging. I’m learning to surrender and be present, which isn’t always easy for someone so driven. It’s also invited me to rethink how I work, why I work, and who I want to be both as an artist and as a mother. Astrid’s arrival has softened me while also making me more focused than ever. I want her to grow up knowing that it’s OK to carve your own path, even if it doesn’t look like everyone else’s. What would be your advice, being a woman – and a mother – in this industry? You’re an entrepreneur, a founder, you run your own business, and you have two kids… how do you make it work?

EW

You don’t! Not perfectly. There is no formula as far as I can see. Some weeks I’m flying, some weeks I’m failing. But I’ve learned that success doesn’t have to look like burnout. I’ve built a team around me who believe in the vision, but also in balance, and I try to be fully present where I am. Being a mother has actually sharpened my instincts and it’s made me want to work . I want to inspire my children through working but they need to know that they are my priority regardless of the juggle. So involving them in what I’m doing and bringing them into my workplace is a good thing. They learn perspective and they see the grind as much as the beauty, which is what I observed with my own mother. Importantly, trying not to waste time and learning to say no, you hold fast to what really matters. I work to be the best version of myself, and because my ideas too need a place to go. I love my work because it is good for me and my family. It needs to be, otherwise there is no worth in it at all.