Emilia Wickstead and Manolo Blahnik channel Riviera style in new capsule

The new luxury playbook is less about a garment than a destination. Emilia Wickstead’s first collaboration with Manolo Blahnik arrives as a 13-piece capsule for Pre-Fall 2026, shaped by the sun-warmed, emotionally textured world of Bonjour Tristesse and its French Riviera setting, with sunset pink, burnished orange, icy blue, midnight navy, chocolate, gold and black setting the mood.

Wickstead called the partnership “entirely natural,” and the shoes read that way: coastal stripes, delicate florals and a sense of dressed-up ease that lands squarely in the same orbit as coastal grandmother, only sharper and more expensive. Emilia Wickstead’s own collection page says the collaboration comprises thirteen shoe styles, framing the meeting point as Manolo Blahnik leatherwork against Wickstead’s command of print and color. WWD added another layer to the rollout, noting that Net-a-Porter launched 12 exclusive new shoe styles alongside ready-to-wear apparel, a sign that the fantasy is being sold as a full wardrobe, not a single statement heel.

That matters because the strongest summer fashion stories are no longer just about trends; they are about place. The Riviera look keeps returning because it promises a polished life of terraces, late lunches and salt air without the mess of actual travel. The appeal is easy to decode: relaxed tailoring, a restrained palette and luxurious materials that suggest leisure rather than loudness. Coastal grandmother, a term coined on TikTok by Lex Nicoleta in 2022, has found its most convincing proof in collections like this, where the aesthetic is translated into something you can wear, not just pin to a mood board.

Polo Ralph Lauren is pushing the same idea into retail. Castle Towers lists Polo Ralph Lauren as opening at the Sydney center in 2026, inside a broader Designer Precinct that QIC says launched in November 2025 with Aje, Kivari, Oroton, P.E Nation and Tommy Hilfiger, plus refreshed R.M. Williams and Camilla concepts. The wider development adds 155 car spaces, a practical detail that says as much about the market as the clothes do: this is fashion built for a customer who wants access, convenience and a little theatre.

Castle Towers identifies the center as serving the Hills district in Sydney’s north-west, and that geography is part of the message. Whether it is Riviera dressing from Emilia Wickstead and Manolo Blahnik or Polo Ralph Lauren’s arrival in Castle Hill, brands are selling a place-based fantasy of seaside Europe, polished leisure and old-money travel as the summer growth story worth watching.