Welcome to our podcast, Who What Wear With Hillary Kerr. Think of it as your direct line to the designers, stylists, beauty experts, editors, and tastemakers who are shaping the fashion-and-beauty world. Subscribe to Who What Wear With Hillary Kerr on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Who What Wear’s editor in chief, Kat Collings, had the European adventure that dreams are made of. If fashion week—really fashion month—wasn’t enough going on, Collings had her wedding in the South of France along with an epic Italian honeymoon.
During her trip to Europe, Collings was able to get a firsthand look at what locals on the streets of London and Paris are wearing this fall. Don’t worry: Comfort is still in, guys. “The comfort thing is real coming out of the pandemic. It’s cool because you look really stylish and current too,” Collings says.
If you’ve been looking for the perfect boots for fall and winter that can withstand the wintery elements, Collings shares a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to design the Sperry x Who What Wear Duck Float Boots, which are available now. If you’re planning a fall wedding, Collings has all your packing and styling needs covered, too, as she breaks down how she managed to pack for fashion week, her wedding, and her honeymoon.
In the latest episode of Who What Wear With Hillary Kerr, Collings shares how the trends differ across the major European fashion capitals, how she packed for her trip, and so much more.
For excerpts from the interview, scroll below.
You are officially back just in time for fall and just in time for the debut of a very fun fall collaboration that we did at Who What Wear with the one and only Sperry. You worked really hard to bring this together. Can you bring us inside the details of the Duck Float Boot and what it was like bringing this project together?
It is a very special boot. I am obsessed with it. I’m so proud to have this released out in the universe. I think this boot is really the perfect blend of function and fashion. It has this waterproof duck shell on the bottom with these traction pods.
The shaft of the boot has contrast stitching. It’s premium leather, it’s sleek, it has subtle moto vibes, so it feels current but also very classic. You could wear it for many, many seasons to come. It’s relatively lightweight, so it’s easy to wear. I got to have the privilege of modeling some of them, so I’ve wear-tested them, and they’re really, really comfortable. I think [it’s] really just the perfect fall-to-winter, bad-weather-season boot.
You had all of these wedding festivities, and I would imagine that you had your outfits quite planned out for that. Can you talk me through some of your favorite looks, how you styled them, and your wedding dress?
For my wedding dress, I wore custom Danielle Frankel. [The brand is] really the fashion girl’s bridal outfitter of choice in my opinion. I actually tried on the dress that I ended up getting—or a version of it—in February 2020 at New York Fashion Week, so I’ve had the dress sitting in my apartment. It was so exciting to finally wear it and have people react to it. I had been sitting on it for so long, so it felt fresh all over again, which was amazing. It was really fun to work with Danielle [Hirsch] on the dress and with Christy Baird of LOHO Bride, who was the L.A. counterpart to all of this.
How did you think through all of your looks?
I just thought of my events and the location. We were in Nice on the beach in the South of France as well as where we did the welcome beach day. The rest of the events were near St. Paul de Vence. When I was thinking about my rehearsal dinner, I was like, “You know, I could go for something loud and bridal.” But I went with this Totême bustier that I’ve since worn a couple times and some white jeans. I was so excited for the beach day to find this crochet dress that was inspired by this one that Jane Birkin wore. It felt appropriate for the setting, too.
For my second look, I got to wear a design by Anna October, this Ukrainian designer. It was from her resort 2023 collection. She made this collection—she had to flee Ukraine—and made it in Paris. The design community there really helped her out. Celine donated the fabrics, and another brand donated the space for her to work in. It’s this patchwork dress that has these amazing gloves that go with it. [It’s] made from what fabrics were available, so that was kind of cool to be able to wear something with a bit of meaning behind it for that second look.
Tell me a little bit about what you saw in terms of key pieces, styles, trends, and what people are wearing in Europe at the moment.
In terms of the average person out there who’s looking stylish, a lot of the more Gen Z people I noticed were wearing some sort of stretch flare—the “not quite pants, not quite leggings” situation that the Emma Chamberlain crew has been promoting. It makes a lot of sense. They’re quite flattering and comfortable and just easy to wear. Then with sneakers… so many sneakers. Really, the sneaker du jour is the Adidas Samba. The comfort thing is real coming out of the pandemic. It’s cool because you look really stylish and current too.
In London, what’s always interesting is—it sounds stereotypical—you really do get the sense that there’s always a little bit of a perverse punk edge there. It’s so signature to London and special and unique about that city. Paris is always the most polished, classic. It’s a bit more traditional. You want to add that extra dose of sleekness. Whether it’s a big, structured blazer that you’re wearing with a sheer little pencil skirt. If you’re going to wear heels, it’s definitely the place to wear heels. It’s the most dressed up. You see a lot of that on the fashion circuit, but then for the real-life Paris stuff, again, that was where I saw so many sneakers. You see a lot of individuality too. I do think it categorically has the best vintage scene as well.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Next up, check out our previous episode featuring Kendra Scott.
