Aje’s Edwina Forest on updating your summer wardrobe for effortless style this year

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17th Oct 2019

Summer is almost here, providing the ideal time to consider how this upcoming season is going to look from a wardrobe perspective. This balmy time of year not only requires sartorial consideration around what you’ll wear to any beach and poolside-related activities, but also summer office attire that is versatile enough for you to go directly from the office to a festive season or new year after-work evening soirée.

Vogue Online Shopping Night (VOSN) is running from 6pm Tuesday, October 22 until 6am Friday, October 25, offering the perfect opportunity to stock your summer wardrobe accordingly. To help you refine your warm weather wardrobe selections, we asked Edwina Forest, co-founder and creative director of Australian label Aje—who are taking part in VOSN—to provide her expert advice on the pieces to look to this year that will update your summer wardrobe for an easy, breezy, effortless summer of style.

What pieces and trends we should be looking to update our summer wardrobe with this year?
“For me this summer will be about the pairing of volume and structure. The exaggerated silhouette, most notably the ‘exaggerated sleeve’ is having such a moment, and I believe, will continue to do so. There is something both feminine and bold about it that people find alluring and fascinating. The ideal way to embrace this trend for summer is to select a feminine piece with a bold statement sleeve in a soft lightweight billowing fabrication, paired with a touch of leather or structure—this adds a modern-day twist to a classic silhouette. The lightweight fabrication evokes a sense of movement and softness while the leather creates balance. It is the perfect coupling of the tough and the feminine that we love at Aje.” 

“I think that suiting will also be a major player this season, which I just love. A well-tailored suit is the perfect way to make a statement while looking effortless. We have seen a lot of tailoring of late, with more and more women embracing the masculine suit for formal dressing, which I find very exciting. For the ultimate pairing I would love to see women incorporating suiting elements into their more feminine dress styles. A long-lined blazer with a structured shoulder is best seen slouched over a soft billowing dress—the perfect contrast.” 

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What gaps in your wardrobe will you be looking to fill this season? 
“Traditionally, I am a big fan of black and white, however I have seen myself embracing more colour and print the past season. In particular I have been loving bold tones block styled. This season I will be playing around more with bold shades of yellows, reds, and greens. Though not for the faint of heart, when taking on these bold colours, it is important to pare back every other aspect of your look and allow them to be the hero. For those a little more hesitant, a print is always a great place to start. There is something so innately feminine about a print—soft or bold—that I just love.”

What are your favourite go-to pieces in your wardrobe?
“My everyday ‘go-to’ look is a well-tailored black suit—preferably with a waist tie for a feminine take on a masculine shape—paired with my favourite strappy black heels, a statement gold earring, and a bold lip. This look can effortlessly take me from the office during the day to dinner that evening with my love.”  

When you’re designing, who, what or where do you draw inspiration from?
“We are forever inspired by our surroundings, with the natural landscape being a constant source of inspiration across all of our collections. Our resort 2020 collection, ‘Bloomscape’, [which is] in store now, is devoted to capturing the natural wonder of our extraordinary landscape in which we live. It stands as a celebration of our natural treasures—the rich unique and biodiverse ecosystem of Australia, from the desert to the bush to the ocean. Australia is not only a unique land which so many of us from across the world are blessed to call home, but also home to the oldest living culture on earth. The colour palette has been derived from the trees, the soil and the sky, the silhouettes from the land, the rocks, and the seas, the prints from the flowers, the leaves and the seeds, and the embellishments from the starry desert night sky.” 

Aje is launching its premiere jewellery collection, ‘Aje Adorn’, this November.