Jenny Packham often draws on the glamour of the past to dress her glamorous woman in the present day. Yet her journeys across cultural and cinematic history typically locate themselves somewhere in the 20th century—and not in the annals of ancient Egypt. “I’ve been waiting for ages for the Grand Egyptian Museum to open in Cairo, and it’s now in the soft-opening stage,” said Packham, who, despite her brand’s association with upper-crust Englishness, is also something of an adventurer. “I went there years ago and got very inspired, so it felt like the right time to return to that inspiration.”
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, one of Packham’s starting points was Cleopatra—whether representations of the great Egyptian queen from her own time, or her famous interpretation by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 blockbuster opposite Richard Burton. But given Packham’s magpie’s eye for glitz, she was also drawn to the ancient Egyptians’ dazzling use of color and metallics. “They were the first to create a blue pigment from lapis lazuli, so we incorporated that into the collection,” she said, smiling. “And plenty of gold and silver of course.” (As Packham also noted, some historians say ancient Egypt was the first civilization to introduce the concept of luxury goods.)
Packham’s party season dresses were all present and ready for their big nights out come summer 2025, whether a dress dripping in royal blue sequins and beading with fierce power shoulders, or a more playful gold and silver sequin and crystal tunic dress that seemed to shimmy off the hanger and straight onto the dance floor. But Packham also noted that her styles with capes and those made from crepe fabrics have been flying off the shelves, in particular designs that offer a more restrained opulence.
For while Packham’s designs are certainly opulent, they’re also—for the woman with the occasion to wear them—strangely practical. There’s a reason why it’s a certain kind of no-nonsense creative woman that is drawn to them, notably Kate Winslet, who has worn Packham on the red carpet for a handful of premieres for her new Lee Miller biopic, and Adele, who wore several styles during her sold-out concerts in Munich and Las Vegas this summer. The timelessness of Packham’s gowns seems to hold a particular appeal for the kind of totemic cultural figure whose legacies will likely remain for centuries to come—the Cleopatras of today, you could even argue.
