Designers share their most-worns
8 designers break down the pieces they are wearing most frequently from their recent collections
Silvia Dusci , Le Sundial
Most worn piece: the ivory ‘Eclipse’ pendant
This old Prada trench has been my absolute go-to this spring — it’s versatile and effortlessly chic. I love how the shade of beige and the leather belt details at the wrists elevate the whole look.
It’s the look I reach for most days — it strikes the right balance between comfort and attitude. I usually pair it with my mesh booties, a spring favorite, that add a modern and unexpected touch to the outfit.
Most days I’m running around the city, between goldsmiths, suppliers, and a few essential coffee stops, so I need something that moves with me but still makes me feel put together. And this look just works!
I recently found this set at Shop The Story, a wonderful vintage boutique in Milan. I’ve always had a soft spot for Prada from the '90s and early 2000s — it just feels like me, and this set had a vibe I couldn’t resist: sharp yet understated, with that perfect balance of structure and ease. The buttons and collar are especially striking — subtle details, but they really stand out.
During the day, I love pairing it with my ‘gemma’ ballet flats — one of my favorite spring/summer shoes. I love the cut, it’s a little more sensual than a classic ballerina, which makes them effortlessly refined.
Tal Waksal, All III
Most worn piece: the ‘Alex’ maxi skirt
It’s a big surprise that this skirt is my most worn because I usually don’t wear skirts. I am relatively short and have skinny legs with wide hips so pants usually suit me better but when I started playing around with the skirt I realized I could make it work and loved how I looked and that surprised me, so it became my most worn.
I found love in something I’m not used to, and then I learned how to play with it — it was a style epiphany, like Oh I could find myself in a skirt the same way I find myself in pants. I could wear it high, low (the waist is elastic). I started to pair with gauze, with heels, with flats. It’s nice oversize with a big sweater, but also amazing with a tiny t-shirt. It’s something about the high slit that contextualized it differently. Almost like it is an ambitious belt.
It led to discovery, epiphany and play. It’s all three.
Yael Aflalo, Aflalo
Most worn piece: the ‘Lolana’ pants
They’re pants, technically. But with all that volume and drape, they’re also much more. The black sold out fast, but tan silk is coming…
The Lolana pants are like: yes, I am technically wearing pants—but also, no, I am not available for your rules. Black’s gone. Tan silk is next in our summer collection.
I love the Lolana pants for the volume—they move like liquid but still do the job of a pant. We sold out of the black, but the tan silk version is en route.
In case it wasn’t clear, I asked ChatGPT to help me write this three different ways.
Shannon Bond, Shannon Bond
Most worn piece: the ‘Neptune’ earrings
I live in Lisbon so the getting dressed vibe is usually centered around comfortable layering pieces and shoes that can be worn on cobblestone. I’m also in my early 40s and though I have lived in more dressed-up cities like New York, these days, I am really embracing laid-back energy in my personal (and life) style.
Day-to-day, I can usually be found in an elastic waistband pants and lately I have been styling them with a thin wrap-skirt over. The [skirts] from Bambou Roger Kwong are lovely, I wear them in a few colors and fabrics. I also have this great Lemaire knit skirt that has a trompe l'oeil sweater tied around the waist for colder days.
On top, I usually have on a vintage tee or sweatshirt (Scout in LA has the best ones) or a Pleats Please top of some sort.
The main event is a bunch of silver jewelry layered on thick. The jewelry is doing most of the talking and dresses it up, while the clothing remains pretty neutral and tonal.
My most worn jewelry pieces lately are the Neptune earrings, Neptune necklace, and my Harmony, Eclipse, Moon and Lalique rings — the Neptune styles only need monochrome clothing as a base and sort of “become” the outfit. The stones are shimmery and pick up different neutral tones in clothing like grey and brown. I love these bigger pieces because they feel sort of regal to wear—like amulets or armor or something from the past.
They take a lot of polishing and workshop time to make and the rings are heavily-casted. I like when something has weight: it’s a contrast to a lot of things out there that can feel too postmodern, too commercial, too hollow or fleeting. I like when jewelry takes on a real “object” feeling and gets a bit fantastical.
Labradorite, the stone in the Neptune styles, was originally found in northwestern Canada and feels close to my roots where I grew up in Oregon. My early childhood was influenced by a lot of alternative and new age artifacts like crystals and wind chimes and I spent a lot of time in nature to the pieces are very personal to me I wanted to capture that mystical essence and combine it with hard lines and sharp edges.
Jackie McKeown, designer director of Literary Sport
Most worn piece: the ‘Adrienne’ jacket
I love throwing this jacket on with a trouser or denim shorts and a loafer to offset the sportiness.
It layers well under a coat with the hood exposed, or as an unexpected element under a loose cashmere V-neck.
Stephanie Suberville, Heirlome
The most worn piece(s): The ‘Wesley’ trench, the ‘June’ top, the ‘Leyva’ trousers
I wear the trench daily, its roomy enough to layer chunky sweaters underneath so I’ve worn it through the winter and it’s perfect for rainy weather, which we have had a lot of this spring—
I’m also a pants girl, so always looking for the perfect tees to go back to my pants. I wear these silk tees day and night, with jeans, trousers, or silk satin ‘Lexi’ skirt. We have another version called James tank (same fabric), which I wear with our ’Laurie’ trousers for a more dressed up look —
I wear these [pants] day and night. For everyday, I wear with tee shirts. For night, I wear with just a blazer. I left them long enough to wear with both heels and flats —
Brooke Callahan, Brook Callahan
Most worn piece: The tie capris
I launched the (original) pants in July of 2023 after struggling to find pants that worked for me. I have a bigger butt and thighs in comparison to my waist so pant shopping has always been tricky. I knew I wanted to make something with a super adjustable waist to eliminate the waist gapping I often dealt with after having to size up to accommodate my thighs. The more I chatted with friends about my plans the more I realized how many people deal with this so the fit was the most important part of the process.
I knew that once people with my same structure found a pant that fit them right they would want multiple pairs, which is why I offer them in a very wide color variety.
Fabric wise, I love poplin for its versatility and live in button downs so it seemed like the obvious choice [for the pants]. From the beginning, I wanted a pant that could work as easily on the couch at home as with heels on a Friday night and I do think they achieve that!
I really do think of them as the almost every occasion pant.
Olivia Ball, Laoli
Most worn piece: a tie between the dreamy diamond huggies and the citrine drop collar
The piece I never take off? It’s a tie between my dreamy diamond huggies and the citrine drop collar.
These earrings were part of my first collection and I’ve been wearing them, basically, since I made them 2 years ago. They’re low-key but at the same time not really low-key at all, and they go with everything. I swim in them, sleep in them, travel with them… they’ve become part of me.
But lately, the sunset citrine collar has taken over as most worn. It’s one of my latest pieces and feels like a turning point in my creative process. It is bolder, more expressive, and deeply personal — I made this one by hand myself. It marks a sort of creative evolution as it brings me closer to the making process.
With my first collection, I focused on designing and overseeing production, but I have felt a strong pull to work more directly with the materials and stay immersed in the flow of making. Now I hand-assemble much of the collection in my Paris studio and collaborate with a century-old Parisian pearl atelier for the final stringing.
The citrine catches light in a soft, golden way that is grounding for me.
I keep reaching for it because it elevates even the simplest outfits, while still feeling totally wearable. Lately, I want to create pieces that feel imperfect and alive. It’s a departure from the more polished, traditional pieces I began with and it’s been very energizing. I love the dynamic that all the materials I work with bring to one another (shells, diamonds, 14k/18k solid gold, delicate pearls and enormous eye catching stones). That tension has become a defining part of my process and to an outfit, it brings authenticity and intention.
It’s not overly precious. Glamorous, but grounded.
Maria McManus, Maria McManus
Most worn piece: 5 pocket wide-leg jean in black
I wear our massive 5 pocket pants in black organic cotton daily layered with any number of shirts, dresses or tunics. Here, they’re worn under our stripe ‘Godet’ dress and shirt, with Carven mules, an old Céline scarf, Charlotte Chesnais cuffs and Sherman Field bracelets and rings —
They’re my go-to trouser because they’re so oversize and comfortable. I can dress them up or down. They look great with a sneaker, or loafer or a heel.
I can wear them like a pair of jeans but they’re so much softer. My phone fits easily in the back pocket so I don’t have to carry a purse or bag. I have rarely taken them off since November.
Emily Dawn Long, Emily Dawn Long
Most worn piece: the 5-shell cowrie bracelet
I wanted a different answer, but technically I do wear this everyday —
It’s handmade in Bali, where I went on a solo Eat Pray Love-type trip (lol) to just not work, even though I ended up taking a jewelry class for fun, which I went to everyday. I was there for a month in the fall of 2023. The jewelry class changed everything —
I think I’ve been drawn to jewelry for a while. It wasn’t part of the collection, but I was personally obsessed and when I took the class, it was really just to make myself pieces but I had so much fun so I made more. Eventually, I wanted to make myself a thin cuff — I had a cool thick one that I’d designed years ago when I was designer at Jill Stuart but I wanted something different as the literal shape of your wrist bone, but small.
I posted about it while I was in Bali and got so much good feedback. So many people asked if I would make versions for them so I started producing them in Bali and now I work with the silversmiths there — we’re on WhatsApp every day.
The shells were designed based on a single real cowrie shell on a string that I got during my first trip [to Bali] in 2017. I thought it was so chic and simple, so we hand-carved the shell based on my original single shell — and then because I have my ‘Jeff’ shirts, which have a French cuff, I was like, We need cuff links. So I did a lil cowrie collection — brooch, tie pin, cuff link, anklet. And the silver is really good — 999 quality (for reference, Tiffany’s Elsa Peretti bone cuff is 925), so it’s all heavy but not crazy and just so nice. It feels really good on. As told to Leandra Medine Cohen from Milan, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Paris, Mexico and Lisbon via text and Instagram message over the months of April and May, 2025.
this was amazing!!
Devoured this! Inspired and giddy