"I Don’t Believe in Quiet Luxury": Allow Studio Nicholson to Reintroduce Itself
Studio Nicholson never needed to hold a runway show. Why would it? Over the past 16 years, creative director Nick Wakeman built a legacy not with spectacle but strong, signature silhouettes. So, it begs the question as to why the British brand is prepping for "the most expensive seven minutes of my fucking life," Wakeman laughs over a Zoom call from London, in good spirits despite fighting a cold.
That's so typical — you always get sick right before the big day. But Wakeman is just glad to be free. She's been doing her own thing since 2010. As such, Studio Nicholson's runway debut is more of a Studio Nicholson celebration, a testimony to the power of perpetually sticking to your guns.
Founded in 2010, Studio Nicholson was early to the notion of paring back garment design to reveal the beautiful essentialism within. Its menswear and subsequent womenswear was defined by European fabrics and sculpted forms that flattered human forms as much as it reframed them.
Of course, Studio Nicholson was not the first label to propose clean lines but it was a modern lodestar, epitomizing a sort of neo-minimalism that's proven didactic for the branding-free, loose-layered upstarts who've come since.
And, rather than play industry games, Studio Nicholson built its audience and catered to them. Only rarely did Wakeman engage with convention, like mass-market partnerships or sneaker collaborations, and even then only on her own terms.
This runway show will include 28 looks — 14 men and 14 women, wearing a mix of old and new designs — devised on her own terms. Same as it ever was. "It's not gonna be a massive surprise; it's about showing people who we are," says Wakeman "It has to come from my heart. It has the be the brand. This is the big moment."
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Your presentation isn't on the official schedule, right?
No, which is fine. It's actually chic not to be on the schedule. [laughs] That's what they say.
What kept you from doing a runway show until now?
Well, it costs a lot of money, and I was never gonna waste money that could be used for the business. But then this time last year, I just wanted to do it. For one, I want people to see the clothes move, because you don't when you look at a website or Instagram page. But also, we have a tribe of loyal followers and fans and customers and it's important that they see it. I want it to be intimate, I want you to see the fabrics up close.
My CEO would say something different. [laughs] He would say we're [doing the runway because we're] becoming more of a global brand, and I do agree with that. We've got 12 more stores planned in China, some in South Korea, and we're looking at opening in New York. So, it's important to establish yourself in the "fashion arena." I mean, I'm certainly not doing it for my own ego. I'm just, like, let's show the world all the hard work and provenance that we've put in.
It's sort of a debut of the "new" Studio Nicholson.
A reintroduction.
Right, which includes this new logo.
I did the original branding around my kitchen table with someone for, like, five quid. I had no money, you know, so the logo was simple. But, a few years in, I was like, "Actually, it looks like Harvey Nichols, or like a supermarket." It wasn't that special. But it was a fit for purpose, and that was important.
David McKendrick did the redesign, he works with White Cube and Hermès. We did a massive deep dive on British type. I think this new typeface was established in the '70s, it was used a lot in newspapers and print. It just looks more sophisticated, which was really about conveying how we've moved on. And it feels quite trad in a way, which we are in places. When you look at it on the label in the clothes, it really looks like it belongs there.
16 years with one logo is a pretty good run — it feels like everyone's rebranding every other year.
We've been working on it since last year. Everything takes a long time. Absolutely. In this game, it takes forever. It's not a game for the impatient. Which is interesting because everyone wants this slow, patient, purposeful clothing but they want it right now, right?
That was the whole thing behind the "quiet luxury" trend a few years ago.
I don't believe in quiet luxury.
Aha.
I think it's just called good taste. And expensive doesn't mean good taste, right? I went to this luxury party the other night, and there were these people decked out with scarves and belts and everything. It made me think about 40 years ago, when Jil Sander was around, when it was all about nice taste, discerning taste.
How would you define "discerning taste?"
You just know it. There's something you recognize as being apart from the normal. It's quality. it's context. It's precision, restraint, consistency. That's why we don't change things much, you know? We spent so much time perfecting these products.
A lot of the things we put in the show are bestsellers, like the Sorte pant. There's a reason we don't change [our signature shapes] — there's a demand for the same pant over and over again We just swap out the fabrics. For the show, I did it in a double-faced waterproof cotton. It's beautiful. It's got even more body than the original.
How do your "consistent" shapes relate to the new ones?
They focus me. When I'm struggling with or questioning [a new] design... It's like when you can't taste your own cooking, right? You made it, can't fucking taste it. Everyone else can. But I'll be like, "Oh, does it feel like us?" So, I'll come back to those styles and be like, "That's us. That's how we do it."
How often does that happen?
We all have good days and bad days. Sometimes I come into the office and I'm like, "Fuck."
What about the opposite? Like, when do you feel like you're really tasting your own cooking?
I'll be a moment, like when I see someone wearing our clothes, usually when I'm out there with no makeup walking the dog in sweatpants. And I'll talk to them and they'll go, "Oh my god, I love your stuff," and I'm like, "Ground, swallow me up." [laughs]
But they'll look really good, and that's when you can taste it. It's the hardest when you're going from meeting to meeting or get lost in something and you can't see the forest for the trees. I think anyone creative recognizes that — how can you see the big picture when you're in the details?
Going back to the Sorte pant, that is, like, the epochal wide pant. It really feels like it's influenced, directly or indirectly, a lot of modern pant shapes.
Its shape is, I think, universal. Nowadays, everyone's doing their own take on it. I try not to get lost in the noise out there because, well, it makes the food taste quite bad, to use that analogy again. I do see it but it's better to ignore, stick to your guns, and get on with it.
What makes Studio Nicholson's version the original?
There's an authenticity with ours. It was a moment. It goes back to a feeling I had when I saw this guy wearing a vintage pant in Tokyo and I was like, "Look at the way he moves in that pant, look at the pleat, the angle of the pleat. It's amazing." It's like what you get taught at school: Your reasoning and methodology of getting to a point is more important than just getting to the point.
I've been working in fashion for 30 years now. My codes were established 30 years ago. I like the same things that I liked 30 years ago. When I need inspiration, I'll watch the same movies or read the same books. Jaws and The Ice Storm are my own personal esoteric references. People look at the same stuff, but it's your interpretation of it that matters. And it doesn't matter if no one else gets it because you do.
We're back to discerning taste. Which, really, is just another word for personal style. As much as I love talking about it, I also feel pessimistic about personal style. I feel like we're a lot less individual than we used to be.
Everything's been whitewashed the world over. There's not a lot of individualism. We're told what to wear and everyone sort of looks the same. Which I have a problem with because I like to dress like a character, you know, a book or a movie. I have a little thing in my head that's like, "Oh, remember Meryl Streep in Out of Africa and she had that like amazing white shirt?" That's what I'm thinking about when I get dressed in the morning.
You can't really teach that, can you?
There are tricks of really thinking about it but it all comes down to making it look like you haven't thought about what you're wearing. But there are also the people who've just fucking got it and they can slam something on. It's like the art of being undone, where the shirt's untucked or they've put it on inside out, you know?
But all it comes down to is feeling comfortable and authentic in your clothes. If you feel confident and comfortable and yourself, that's when you're stylish.
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