Nick Wakeman, founder of Studio Nicholson, on kickstarting her brand as a one woman show
The London-based designer talks the brand's ethos, Cillian Murphy and Jake Gylenhaal and her next move
Words: Zak Maoui
Creative director and founder of Studio Nicholson, Nick Wakeman, makes clothes that are timeless. With 30 years of experience, the designer avoids trends and has instead, since 2010, been building a no-nonsense cult brand that is manufactured to last. Based out of east London, Studio Nicholson caters to both men and women and is the middle ground between Phoebe Philo’s palatable Celine and high street minimalist giant Cos. It’s superior in its fits and fabrics, because Wakeman, who honed her craft in Textile Design at the Chelsea School of Art, believes these are the two components that make a garment – such as the brand’s more popular signature pants – worthy of its wearer.
“15 years ago, I came back to London after living outside the city and thought, ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?’ Exactly the same as what I was doing, apparently. I had sold my old brand to a Japanese group, who never did anything with it. So I did the exact same thing, but now with more experience. I’d done enough yoga in my break, and so was ready to be a workaholic again.
I looked in my wardrobe and saw all the menswear pieces that I’ve collected across the years that have been tailored and altered to fit myself, and decided to do that for women. The idea was that you could get dressed in the dark and the initial pieces, the shirts, knits and trousers, were modular, so everything worked together. It is based on a form-follows-fabric mantra. The first collection was built for spring/summer 2011. I decided the brand should be accessible, but not cheap, and it should be made using the world’s best mills and factories. Around 20 per cent of the fabrics come from Japan and 80 per centare Italian. Our mills are working with us to develop new fabrications.
Collection one had a slow start to begin with, but a friend from Tokyo came and saw it and said he’d buy and distribute it. Soon it was in 15 major stores out there and that was the start. Simply, the brand worked very well in Japan. I was doing Studio Nicholson from my kitchen table on my own. Then, in 2017, I created a mini team and, having realised our main customer was male, I launched menswear. It got o to a much faster start. Without our Japanese customers we wouldn’t be here today. We just wouldn’t have survived.
We now do four men’s collections a year, two seasonal collections and two module capsules, which are all split into deliveries. For womenswear, it is eight drops per year. I’d quite happily run o into the hills and do a tiny collection, as it is a lot. I’m about to cut the collection sizes by about 30 per cent again. We’re not trend-led, there are nuances to trends. For me, colour is not a thing. It’s all neutrals, with the odd flash of something. But the idea is, ultimately, to make something that you can’t live without. That is what I’m trying to do all the time. So, if you have a pair of jeans, how does it make you feel when you walk in them? Do you feel fucking invincible? Do you feel like the best version of yourself?
Inspiration comes from every-where. I brief the designers at the beginning of the season and I moodboard constantly. I make around six a week, and I get all my shits and giggles from movies and photographs, particularly those released between 1991 and 1998. I also read a lot andI digest the CSM libraries.
We’ve got some great customers in the film industry. The shirts and the trousers were worn by Cate Blanchett in Tár. Following that we got Cillian Murphy wearing Studio Nicholson loads onscreen, you can’t get him out of our Bill Pant. He has so many pairs now. In January we had Jake Gyllenhaal in the showroom for an hour in Paris. He loved the collection and wore us all through-out the press tour for Road House. We have just supplied clothes for The Room Next Door so when that comes out you’ll see Studio Nicholson throughout the film. And following that, we’ve got Julianne Moore purchasing pieces all the time, as well as Tilda Swinton and director Pedro Almodóvar.
Collaboration is fun. I made some furniture in a previous collaboration, which I really loved. We’ve also got a Paraboot collaboration launching soon. We did one in the summer, a really nice boat shoe made of a beautiful cow leather. Now we’ve got the Michael, Paraboot’s hero Derby, in an exclusive rich, dark-raisin coloured deerskin with mountain hiking-style laces. It’s a partnership where we wanted to emphasise our commitment to world-class materials and that we only work with experts in their fields. You get the best access to textiles and fabrics in that regard.
I’m delving into the world of fragrance. I like challenging myself – constantly! Maybe it is about doing some bed linen or objects for the home next. It’s something to think about.”
This feature was taken from our Autumn 2024 issue. Read more about it here.
Want more interviews? Read our recent interview with Industry's Sagar Radia
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