Nicholas Oakwell's travel-inspired fashion

May 12, 2015

Author: Tara Green

A journey, for Nicholas Oakwell, starts the moment he gets out his suitcase to start packing. Or, rather, his"‘suitcases", plural. "I don’t believe in packing well," he declares. "I need a lot of clothes and lots of shoes. Well, I don’t know what I’m going to feel like wearing each day, do I?"

You can’t refute his logic. It makes even more sense when you appreciate Oakwell is a fashion designer, and one that works at the very top end – couture – with a client list that includes Dame Helen Mirren, Annie Lennox, Paloma Faith, Gillian Anderson and Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer. He also has international clients that span the globe from Europe to the Middle East, Russia to the US.

Despite his glittering client list, Oakwell, 45, is disarmingly down-to-earth and approachable; possibly because he didn’t set up his couture house until four years ago, relatively late in his career.

After studying at Epsom School of Art and Design (his graduate show was bought outright by Harvey Nichols), he honed his skills in various aspects of fashion – including millinery; pattern-cutting and beading for designer Isabell Kristensen; and working in-house for Harvey Nichols – before feeling ready to launch his own collections.

"I’d just got married. I made my mother’s outfit and those of our three groom-maids – I married a man – and when I finished the gowns, I knew I was ready to do couture."

Working from an atelier in London’s Clerkenwell, he launched his first collection in July 2011. Now, seven collections later and with 75 staff, he is moving to Mayfair and opened a boutique in Brook Street, next to Claridge’s – the latter is usually the "showroom" for his launches.

Couture he describes simply as "the art of making beautiful clothes; it’s beyond fashion". His clothes, he explains, are about creating a look, a feel; they’re timeless and should still be wearable in 10 or 20 years’ time.

Never without his sketchbook and pens, much of his inspiration comes from his travels; he is constantly on the move visiting clients, fabric fairs and specialist artisans and suppliers. His gowns are noted for their exquisite hand-finished details, particularly sequins, beadwork, metal detailing, leather appliqué-work and ostrich feathers.

Image:wedding dresses glasgow

A recent collection, Tsunami, was inspired by the "rebirth" of Japan after the devastating tsunami of 2011; the fresh greens and flowers after the gunmetal greys of the destruction. "I love how the Japanese celebrate the simple things. They’re always having festivals. We recently visited in cherry blossom season - which, of course, they celebrate with festivals called Sakura."

Panthère was a collection inspired by the lead-lined rooftops of Paris: "The different shades of grey, their higgledy-piggledy shapes." To show the collection, he recreated the rooftops in Claridge’s ballroom with the audience sitting "on the parapets" and the models appearing and disappearing as they wandered through the imaginary skyline.

His Mars collection was based on the apartments and lifestyles of New York’s Bronx district in the Seventies: "The architecture and colours," he explains. "Lots of taupes, browns and greys."

Although Oakwell travels extensively for business, he leaps on any opportunity to travel without a packed work schedule; typically to somewhere warm such as Fiji, Marrakech, Abu Dhabi or Singapore – "I loveSingapore, the kaleidoscope of cultures in one island" – or to visit friends in Hong Kong or Los Angeles.

"LA is so relaxed. It’s a very positive city. New York always feels hard, you feel you should be doing something. Oh my gosh, the pressure!" he drawls with a mock New York accent.

He doesn’t, however, distinguish between "business" and "pleasure" trips when it comes to design inspiration. "It’s not a separate thing; I don’t put on my ‘design’ hat. My eyes are always open. I always have my sketch pads with me and my iPhone, taking pictures. I’ll rip things out of magazines."

Even when eating, if he sees something, he’ll whip out his pens and start drawing on a napkin. "I’ve got to get it down before I forget."

Inspiration is equally likely to strike in the airport lounge or in the air. "I love going into the business lounge; I enjoy the good service. I’ll look at my itinerary and start Googling things."

Once airborne, he might look at management reports or do some design sketches. One of the other joys of flying, he admits, is being able to catch up on movies. "The ones you don’t want people to know you’re watching!"

It’s clear that travel inspires Nicholas Oakwell. But it’s the way he travels that seems to fuel so much of his creative magic.