This Emilia Wickstead Swimwear Collab Epitomises Positano Chic

“Le Sirenuse has the power to make you feel as though you are stepping into another world and another time,” says Emilia Wickstead. The feeling she describes is an appealing one after more than a year of face masks, lockdowns and lateral flow tests, so Wickstead’s new collaboration with Emporio Sirenuse, the resort wear line born out of perhaps the chicest hotel on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, could not be more perfectly timed.

The designer says she resolved to reach out to Carla Sersale – who runs Le Sirenuse with her husband Antonio and founded the Emporio Sirenuse line with her niece, Viola, in 2013 – because she “dreamt of being a part of the world they have created. I love anything that feels old world and glamorous. Those bygone eras that inspire us all live on at Le Sirenuse.”

The limited-edition swimwear capsule they went on to create certainly has glamour in spades. From the candy-striped kaftans and slides to the colour-block bikinis, these are pieces to live la dolce vita in. “Lightweight cotton dresses that can be easily dressed up or down are my summer staples,” says Wickstead. “The kaftans from this collection are perfect additions to my collection. I’ll wear them over swimsuits by the pool, or with sandals for lunch – I will live in them!”

Sersale, meanwhile, intends to wear the Scarlet one-piece swimsuit in dark pink while sailing in the family’s Riva Aquarama this summer. “Emilia is timeless and sleek,” Sersale says, explaining why she jumped at the chance to work with Wickstead. “I admire her taste and the fact that she is always herself, no matter what is happening in the fashion world.”

For the campaign, Wickstead and Sersale assembled a cast of women that would reflect the collection’s Positano roots. Among them Antonia and Margherita De Simone, who run the much-loved Lo Scoglio restaurant – home to their famous spaghetti alle zucchini di Nerano; and Lola Arrivabene, a Venetian entrepreneur who holed up in an old tower in Positano with her boyfriend during lockdown.

“I’m so excited by the cast of all Italian women that we shot for the lookbook,” Wickstead tells Vogue. “They are my muses – each one is passionate about Positano’s culture, having spent summers there by the sea. Like me, the Amalfi Coast is their home away from home. It’s a magical place,” she says. Or, as the writer John Steinbeck, who loved Le Sirenuse, put it: “Positano bites deep.”