IF anyone knows how to get dressed for success it’s Leona Edmiston, the Australian dress expert whose eponymous collection of frocks has earned her a cult-like following in the Southern Hemisphere, has finally landed – to rave reviews – at Westfield in London.
Granted, it’s been several months since the store opened, but as Edmiston says: "we like to give our stores time to settle down before we descend upon them". And settle down, it has. The store is a darkly sophisticated vision of the designer’s glamorous, grown-up aesthetic and has already decked out some of the capital’s most stylish women.
But why dresses? "When we started in 2001, fashion was all about ‘separates’; dresses had gone out of the fashion library," explains Edmiston. "We saw a gap in the market where we could take the thinking out of dressing so that a woman could go from the office to the opera with a change of accessories."
Although she claims to be inspired by the woman that she designs for – busy, successful, stylish – there is a strong Seventies flavour to her aesthetic as evidenced in boho maxi dresses; and the Fifties can be seen popping up in Doris Day-style shirt dresses, while epaulette details and kitsch (or should we say kirsch?) cherry prints keep things fun.
Leona Edmiston dresses are available at Westfield, London, and at the online boutique at www.leonaedmiston.com.