Alice + Olivia Designer Talks Her ‘Romantic’ Shakespeare Fall 2025 Line and Celebs She Wants to Dress (Exclusive)

Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet’s Fall 2025 collection was everything from romance and poetry to rich tones and jewel embellishments.

Bendet, 46, exclusively opened up to Us Weekly at her fashion week presentation in New York City, gushing that she drew inspiration from William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

“Then, I decided that I wanted to go further and create a show that incorporated all these different elements of Shakespeare,” she told Us.

Bendet’s collection featured floral sets and gowns, silky dresses, lace gloves and tights, beaded frocks, sequin getups and embellished corsets — a.k.a everything Shakespeare would approve of.

“We did a collaboration with Shakespeare & Company,” Bendet explained to Us. “We got to dive into the archives and study all of the costumes from different plays, sonics, covers of books [and] embroideries that were in costumes.” The designer elaborated, calling her collection a “a modern day production that [Shakespeare] would’ve appreciated.”

As for her celebrity muses, Bendet thought about who would make a perfect modern day Juliet, from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

“I love thinking back to the movie Shakespeare in Love [with] Gwenyth Paltrow,” Bendet said, noting she envisioned Elle Fanning, Anne Hathaway and Kaia Gerber enjoying her line, too.

Different from her vibrant and playful spring 2025 collection, Bendet’s winter line is more “rich and romantic for this season.” She made sure to include deeper colors including “oxblood, navy and emerald.”

Celebrities flooded the designer’s presentation, eager to see her glitzy and glamorous line. Some of the A-listers who checked out her collection included Dancing With the Stars’ Julianne Hough, Tiffany Haddish, The Summer I Turned Pretty star Gavin Casalegno, Loren Gray and more.