Elsa Hosk wants you to make her Witchery edit your own

In partnership with Witchery

Elsa Hosk has spent much of her career being dressed by fashion’s biggest names. But it’s her personal style that has become just as compelling. The Swedish model knows a thing or two about getting dressed – whether she’s channelling decades past in capris and a bandana, making us want to frolic through fields in a sundress, or somehow making jeans and a t-shirt feel like the most covetable wardrobe pieces. In other words, her style is considered without ever actually looking too considered, which is perhaps what makes it so easy to want to borrow.

Hosk also knows that a good wardrobe is rarely about having more. She’s drawn to pieces she can return to for years, styling them in different ways as her life and tastes evolve. That philosophy sits at the centre of Hosk’s edit with Witchery, a curated edit of 25 pieces designed to become the foundations of a great wardrobe. Speaking to RUSSH, Hosk shares how she approached the collection, the references behind her personal style and why making an outfit your own often comes down to one unexpected choice.

Your personal style feels very instinctive, but also incredibly considered. When you began curating this edit with Witchery, how did you decide what felt distinctly “Elsa”?

I think my style has always been about contrasts. I love something feminine with something a little masculine, something polished with something undone, something timeless styled in a way that feels now. When we were putting the edit together, I kept coming back to those contrasts and thinking about how I would actually wear and style the pieces. It had to feel elevated, but still effortless and easy to make your own.

You’ve spent your career around extraordinary clothes, designers and image-makers. How has that proximity to fashion shaped your own understanding of what makes a piece truly special?

Being around incredible fashion for so many years has definitely made me appreciate the little things. The way a fabric falls, the placement of a shoulder, the length of a trouser, a beautiful button or an unexpected proportion. Sometimes the simplest pieces are the hardest to get right. For me, what makes something special is usually not something you notice immediately. You just put it on and it feels right.

The edit brings your luxury sensibility into the Witchery world. What details – fabrication, proportion, cut, finish – were most important to you in creating that feeling?

Good tailoring and how something fits are probably the most important things to me. You can have a very simple piece, but if the cut and proportions are right, it immediately feels elevated. I love an oversized jacket with something more fitted underneath, a long coat, or a really great wide-leg trouser. Fabrication and finish make such a difference too. It’s really the combination of fit, proportion and those smaller details that can make something feel special.

Rather than focusing on a single look, you’ve curated an edit of more than 20 pieces designed to work together. What drew you to these particular pieces, and what did you want the edit as a whole to offer women?

I chose the pieces that spoke to me most and that I could see myself styling and wearing on repeat. I’m always looking for pieces that I can own over a long period of time, that become a treasured piece of my wardrobe. I saw this edit as the wardrobe of a modern woman. There are different moods within it: tailoring, softer feminine pieces, things that feel more effortless, and I like that they can all exist together. To me, that’s how the most stylish women I know dress. It’s less about one look and more about making things your own.

You’re known for making even very elevated fashion feel effortless. What do you think separates an outfit that feels “styled” from one that feels genuinely personal?

Thank you!! I think you have to leave a little room for imperfection. If everything is too coordinated or too considered, I don’t feel like myself. I like when something is slightly off. Adding a vintage belt, combining materials that feel unexpected. Playing with contrast – like an oversized men’s coat over a very feminine dress, a flat shoe when you expect a heel, a shirt half tucked in. Usually it’s that one unexpected choice that makes an outfit feel like you.

Were there any references you kept returning to while creating the edit – a particular era, film, photograph, woman or moment in fashion?

I’m always pulling from so many different eras and references that it’s hard for me to name just one. I keep rotating references from growing up – old photographs, memories, runway shows, movies, menswear, and the Scandinavian simplicity, I think my style has always been a mix of those things, and that naturally influenced the pieces I was drawn to for the edit. Personal style inevitably evolves alongside your life.

What feels different about the way you dress now compared with five or ten years ago – and where can we see that evolution in the Witchery edit?

I’m much more confident in what I like now. Ten years ago I probably experimented more and felt like I needed more things. Now I’m drawn to fewer, better pieces and silhouettes I know I’ll come back to. My life has changed too, and becoming a mum has definitely changed the way I think about getting dressed. I love fashion and getting dressed, but I need my clothes to work for my actual life. I think you can see that in the edit. There’s an ease and simplicity to it.

When someone wears a piece from your Witchery edit, how do you hope they make it their own?

I hope they don’t wear it exactly the way I would! That’s the fun part. I love seeing how someone can take the same piece and make it feel completely different. Wear the coat with something you’ve had forever, dress the trousers down with a T-shirt, wear the dress with flats. The pieces are really meant to be a starting point. Personal style is what happens after that.