Patternmaking is in Katie Ermilio s blood. A granddaughter of Grace Kelly s personal clothier, Ermilio grew up in her father s bespoke menswear atelier, and continued down a similarly elegant path with a ready-to-wear line of her own focused on ultra-feminine eveningwear. Over the past several years, Ermilio has earned a following for charming cocktail frocks, which have been worn by such stars as Michelle Williams, Mickey Sumner, and Nora Zehetner, the latter of whom appears in the designer s Spring video. In the short clip, Zehetner stirs up trouble in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, skipping across sidewalks, playing on bike rails, and even painting a dashing muralist with the hand-drawn blue rose print that appears on silk taffeta pieces in the new collection. In general, Ermilio makes the kind of clothes you could picture a grown-up Eloise wearing around the Plaza: petal-pink silk faille tea dresses with sweet bow details and full crinoline skirts, swingy box-pleated strapless gowns, and a range of options for sophisticated bridesmaids. Special-occasion dresses are Ermilio s niche, but there were plenty of daytime wares here, too, including tailored shorts, miniskirts, crop tops, and a short-sleeve fur chubby that kept things from feeling too saccharine.
