At The Royal Geographical Society, Emilia Wickstead and Julia Sarr-Jamois Hosted an Elegant Dinner Party with Vogue100

Over the past 16 years, Emilia Wickstead, born in New Zealand, has built the quintessentially British brand. Catherine, Princess of Wales, ranks among the label’s famed devotees and reportedly owns the same dress in four colors  Lily James, Emily Blunt, Emilia Clarke, and many other English roses blossom in Wickstead’s designs.

Sunday night, just a few hours after her spring 2025 collection debuted, Wickstead hosted an intimate dinner at the Royal Geological Society with Vogue100. The stately room was transformed from the show venue earlier in the day for the after-hours affair. A five-piece band, outfitted in double-breasted white coats, played on the mezzanine overlooking the historic hall. The dark wood paneling contrasted the mountains of lilies and orchids that adorned the space. British Vogue’s Julia Sarr-Jamois, resplendent in a green gown from Wickstead’s last runway, served as the fabulous co-host for the decadent dinner party.

Wickstead cited photographer Gisèle Freund as the inspiration for the collection. Freund, who died in 2000 at the age of 91,  photographed, socialized, and befriended many of the 20th century’s cultural titans, including James Joyce, Collette, and Virginia Woolf.  Freund was an earlier adopter of color and her palette —smoke gray, turquoise, rose—can be detected in Wickstead’s clothes.

Freund, for all her accomplishments, led a life marked by transience and adversity. Born in Berlin to a family of Jewish textile manufacturers, she narrowly escaped Nazi persecution and fled to Paris. She floated between France, Mexico, and Aringinta. In 1950, the US State Department officially declared her an “unwanted person” after her photographs for Life of Eva Perón caused diplomatic tensions with Argentina. The androgynous silhouettes and subversive tailoring suggest Freund’s grit, curiosity, and fearlessness.

In keeping with her amplification of female artists, Wickstead tapped Marie Cassis of Arôme Cassis to create a dazzling feast. The forty attendees included luminaries across the film, art, Olympic, and fashion sectors like Adedayo, Lara Stone, Naomie Harris, Hikari Yokoyama, Kelly Rutherford, Mia Regan, Rachel Jones, and Markella Kavenagh. Of course, everyone looked stunning in their Wickstead ensembles. Despite the dizzying schedule demands of London Fashion Week, Sarah Harris and Laura Ingham of British Vogue were among the esteemed guests.

“This is a special tribute to Gisèle,” Wickstead said as her guests took their seats. “ I have always wanted to host Vogue100 and it is wonderful to have British Vogue and American Vogue collide at the same table.”