A Vinted buy, a kilt and a suit to match my eyes: street style at the Royal Academy summer party

The Guardian

7 hours ago

The look: 'It's a very old Alaïa, and that's kind of it. The sunglasses are Dolce & Gabbana.' The exhibition: 'I've been coming since I was 18. Today I'm looking to buy. I'm looking at Elizabeth Day who did a photograph in room five, and in room three.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look : 'I don't always wear lilac. Until a few years ago, I wore black and navy. I went to Wimbledon and I was so hot wearing a suit. I thought: 'You know, there must be a better solution to this.' So I searched kilt makers and found one in Scotland, who is an artist as well. I said I want a whole range of summer pastel coloured kilt outfits for Wimbledon and that's basically where it all started.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look : 'It's a mixture of modern and vintage. The dress is from the 60s but the coat is modern – I just got it on Vinted. I really felt that, you know, you need a white vinyl coat. The shoes are Orla Kiely when she was doing a collaboration with Clarks. The beret is by my friend Flora McLean. She is a hat designer and an eyeglass designer.' The exhibition: 'I love to see how the rooms are curated – and how it's always interesting artists who are not Royal Academicians, like me, in the show. There's always some really beautiful,surprising and funny works.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look : 'My outfit is designed by Junya Watanabe, a Japanese designer.' The exhibition : 'I have spent a lot of time with every single one of these works so I know them well. I was actually going around now thinking: 'What would I buy myself?' Because until now it has been about selecting the works and how to hang them, what to put next to what.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
Grayson's look: 'A student made it for me about 10 years ago. I just dug it out of the back of my wardrobe. I thought it would be kind of colourful for this evening.' Philippa's look : 'It's an ordinary outfit from an ordinary shop. The necklace is from the Wallace Collection, the gift shop. It's a Grayson Perry, Tatty Devine joint project.' The exhibition [Grayson] : 'My own work, of course. Because I'm a terrible narcissist. I believe being a narcissist is quite fashionable nowadays, isn't it darling?' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look: '[The jacket] is from Zara, and the sweatshirt is from the Ritz Hotel in Paris. They very kindly gave it to me as a present. The camera is a Leica Q2. I started using Leica's M4s in 1976 because I saw all these American servicemen coming back from Vietnam with those cameras and thought I've got to have one of those. I went to this shop in Bond Street called Campkins that sold secondhand Leicas and bought two of them. I still have them to this day.' The exhibition : 'It should be quite good. There should be some interesting people.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look : 'The shoes? They're from Onitsuka Tiger – they're Japanese. I love them. I don't want people to buy them! And [the dress] I just got on the internet, I can't even remember the name of the company. It just came up on Facebook and I thought: 'This is me.'' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The exhibition: 'I love coming here to see everything. It's an incredible display of art, the likes of which you don't see on this scale really.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look: 'I'm always on the hunt for a good vintage dress and this was an eBay find. I'm always just repping, being obsessive and shopping online. This is a Simone Rocha clutch that I got in a sample sale, so I had to fight tooth and nail for it. It was so worth it.' The exhibition: 'I'm interested in seeing any young art that might have made it today. I feel it is very important to push for younger voices. So I'm kind of looking for young art that just inspires and regenerates what it means to be a creative in this country.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look: 'It's from Richard James. I wore it for the occasion. I wanted something colourful.' The exhibition: 'I think it's been a particularly good year. Farshid Moussavi has done a great job hanging the show. I've got a big piece in the main room, an optic disk called the Patterns of Absence. So, I'm looking forward to people appreciating that.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look : 'Because I am a creative, I design for myself, not to sell anything.' The exhibition : 'A few years ago, I exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, which was a huge privilege. Whenever I am able, I collect and get inspired. And of course, this year I submitted my work, but I didn't get in. Next year I'll try again. New year, new game.' Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The look: 'Oh, so the blue is to match my eyes, but as you get older the colour fades. I'm 72. It's all about the sea, we love Mallorca, we love the sea, we love blue.' The exhibition: 'We try and come every year. We always buy something, we love prints – and we love champagne of course.'
Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian