VOGUE ~ The many colourful lives of Emma Mulholland on Holiday

In the early 2000s, few things were as quintessentially Australian as going on a family holiday to a seaside resort. Between the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets, boogie board rental shacks, the intoxicating smell of coconut sunscreen and movie nights at the resort ‘kids club’, where films like The Parent Trap would play on the VHS, it was a type of holiday that, while slightly less fashionable today, defined so many of our childhoods.

Emma Mulholland has especially fond memories of her family holidays to resorts on the New South Wales coast. Nostalgia for this simpler time forms a big part of her eponymous brand’s identity, but recently, she’s been thinking about what happens—or happened—on a resort getaway after the children have been bathed and the babysitter has been briefed.

“Vacations and holidays have a nightlife element, and it’s always just as fun and exciting as the daytime. You know—when the parents would put the kids to sleep and go out dancing,” reminisces the designer. “I’m always thinking about creating that ultimate, feel-good holiday wardrobe, but we didn’t really have many of those more ‘party’ pieces in the collection. I felt like adding those nightlife pieces made a lot of sense, for the complete vacation wardrobe.”

As she explains the genesis of the newest addition to the Emma Mulholland on Holiday universe, the designer shows us through the new collection, pulling out hero pieces like a preppy light blue and white tartan skirt suit that wouldn’t look out of place in Clueless. “The print is just like a standard tartan. But I always like to have a little bit of tongue in cheek so I’ve added our dolphin hibiscus print.”