Issue 257: Ed's Letter

09 May 2023

Words By: Laura Fantacci

We’ve officially entered occasion-wear season!

I recently spent a weekend in Naples to celebrate my sister’s 30th birthday and was in charge of organising the event. Rather unusually, I left my outfit to the very last minute. You’re often advised by professionals like me not to shop for specific occasions, but I slightly disagree, because shopping for an occasion means really thinking about what you’re going to wear – and there’s no reason that the outfit can’t be worn again. In the end, I bought a beautiful Kika Vargas slip dress in a vibrant green, blue and white floral print that I knew would look great on the streets of Capri. It has a fantastic detachable bow, which means it can be worn with a denim jacket and Birkenstocks, as I did, or with heels and the bow attached.

It was actually seeing the dress on the designer herself at a press day that inspired me to buy it. Kika and I immediately connected when we met and I thought she would make a wonderful cover star for this occasion-wear special. Not only does she design all of her brand’s clothes, she also hand-draws the prints. Her silhouettes are just so fun and the collections are always playful yet feel timeless. She is so stylish and we’re so glad she agreed to be a part of this issue and chat to us about all things party on page 2The ExpertsKika Vargas.

The key qualities to look for when shopping for occasion pieces are versatility and longevity, which is the theme of our Trend Report on page 3Trend ReportSS23 Occasion-Wear. It is, of course, done the W.ICONS way. We’ve selected the key trends that have longevity at their core, with the concept being that it will help you to buy something you’ll wear again and again.

For me, going to work every day is an occasion, and giving thought to my outfit is really important. So, we’ve partnered with The Fold, a brand that thinks about workwear in a modern and trend-led way. On page 7ShootsLessons in Tailoring, Petro and I test out some of our favourite looks from the collection – it was the suits that really captured our attention, so we selected an edit of the best.

The suit is also the star of Style Sheet on page 4Style Sheet4 Ways To Style The Summer Suit , for which our new fashion director Polly – our latest recruit and an old friend from my magazine days – has taken a beautiful sorbet-yellow suit from Galvan London and styled it for four different events to show how versatile it can be. On page 5Top TenFinishing Touches, Polly has also collated an expert edit of accessories that will add the perfect finishing touch to your event looks this season. We’ve also asked our friend Rene Macdonald, the founder and head designer of Lisou, to select the key pieces on her party-ready wish list on page 6The Guest EditRene Macdonald's Hotlist.