Emilia Wickstead channels Frankenthaler’s chromatic abstraction for Resort 2027

Emilia Wickstead’s Resort 2027 collection draws its artistic compass from Helen Frankenthaler, the American post war abstract painter whose radical approach to colour transformed twentieth century art. Rather than borrowing Frankenthaler’s imagery wholesale, the designer absorbs her philosophical approach: the way pigment bleeds and diffuses, how hues converse across a surface, the energy of mark making that feels both deliberate and organic.

The painterly florals drift across cloqué, silk shantung and printed taffeta faille as though the flowers themselves have been pressed into the cloth, their edges softening rather than declaring themselves with graphic precision. A palette of claret, blush, sage, sky and chocolate moves through the collection, steadied by the grounding neutrals of charcoal and black. These are colours that seem to inhabit each other, luminous yet restrained, the hallmark of someone who understands how pigment actually behaves.

Silhouettes range from sculptural occasion gowns and elongated columns to more tactile, quotidian pieces: tweeds and knitwear separates that carry the same chromatic sensibility but speak to a different register of dressing. Sequins appear throughout, catching light quietly rather than demanding attention, their placement deliberate and considered. It is this quality, perhaps, that distinguishes Wickstead’s work: the refusal to shout, the confidence to let beauty breathe.

The collection was photographed at Badminton House, the Georgian country estate whose formal rooms and classical proportions provide an elegant counterpoint to Frankenthaler’s liberation of colour. The campaign images capture both the occasion pieces and the separates in this rarefied setting, allowing each garment to speak to the moment it belongs to.

Emilia Wickstead Resort 2027 is available in stores and online.

Imagery courtesy of Emilia Wickstead (@emiliawickstead).