Who is Gisèle Freund: The Muse Behind Emilia Wickstead’s SS25 Collection

Open­ing Image, Phil Hewitt

Dig­i­tal Fash­ion Edi­tor, Eve Fitz­patrick

Ger­man-French pho­tog­ra­ph­er and pho­to­jour­nal­ist Gisèle Fre­und was a pio­neer in the prac­tice of pho­tog­ra­phy, known large­ly for her por­trai­ture style pho­tographs of notable artists, poets and writ­ers tak­en through­out the twen­ti­eth century. 

Fre­und made major con­tri­bu­tions to the field of pho­tog­ra­phy, devel­op­ing a unique­ly can­did por­trai­ture style used large­ly for doc­u­men­tary reportage.

Draw­ing inspi­ra­tion from the astute lens of Ger­man-born French pho­tog­ra­ph­er, the Emil­ia Wick­stead Spring Sum­mer 2025 col­lec­tion explores the pro­found con­nec­tion between the pho­tog­ra­ph­er and the lives of her sub­jects. The muse and her mus­es. From Simone de Beau­viour to Vir­ginia Woolf to Fri­da Kahlo, Fre­und took inspi­ra­tion from many note­wor­thy fig­ures in his­to­ry, cement­ing them for­ev­er with­in her own artis­tic vision through the act of photography.

The col­lec­tion pays homage to the dual­i­ty of the pub­lic per­sona and pri­vate world of those pho­tographed by Fre­und, explor­ing the com­plex lay­ers of emo­tion cap­tured in her work, by ref­er­enc­ing the colour pal­lette dis­played through­out the photographs. 

The col­lec­tion tells a sto­ry of those behind the lens, cap­tur­ing moments of his­to­ry, as well as those who com­mand atten­tion in front of it.