Let Studio Nicholson Put You in Bigger Pants
ShoppingFounder Nick Wakeman on old-man swag, the power of proportions, and 15 years of success.By Mahalia ChangFebruary 5, 2025Save this storySaveSave this storySaveAll products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.When Nick Wakeman travels, she’ll often go to the airport extra early just to people watch. Across the lounge, in the cafes, outside the gate, she’ll sit, eyes trained on the passengers blurring around the terminal.“I'm a terrible voyeur,” says Wakeman, the creative director of London-based label Studio Nicholson. “I watch people all the time. I’ll be on holiday and I will be looking at other people's clothes. That's still where I get all my inspiration from: how they move and how their clothes move, the fabric.”But she isn’t looking for Pinterest-ready outfits to copy and paste. It’s a little deeper than that. The last object of her attention was an older man she saw in a Japanese train station, wandering by in an elegant tailored jacket. But, again, it wasn’t the outfit so much as the person inside it. “This guy that I saw was insane—he had this amazing ivory suit jacket on. But the thing that I love most about old people is that they start shrinking. I'm very inspired by older people and their clothing, because they keep it for a long time, and it changes so much.”This is one of the core tenets of Studio Nicholson. In an industry dominated by brands that mass produce one-time-wear items that end up in landfill, Wakeman wants to make clothes that not only excite you, but live, grow and change with you.Studio NicholsonNash Knit$605 Studio NicholsonStudio NicholsonSen Knit$440 Studio Nicholson“The whole point about making clothes is that they should last you a lifetime,” says Wakeman over Zoom from a workroom in Paris, a veil of grey clouds swimming in the skylight behind her. “Look after them, really do wear the shit out of them, and after that, they're going to get better and better in color. The weave comes apart in certain places…that's all part of the beauty of it, really.”This idea of clothes having a life of their own isn’t solely about sustainability, but about the fabric itself. Wakeman grew up making her own clothes with her mother in Nottingham. She would choose the fabric—denim for dungarees, say, and patterned cottons for shirts—carefully selecting the cloth before her mum would sew it together. Later, Wakeman would go on to study textiles at the Chelsea College of Arts, the same institution that produced the likes of David Hockney and Anish Kapoor, where she learnt about fabrics from their very starting point (“I learned to knit, weave, print, all of it…Lots of designers don't know what to do with a certain fabric, it takes some experience”).When Wakeman talks about making clothes, she acknowledges the fabric as an active participant, not a bystander. To her, it’s alive.“I like how fabric changes over time,” says Wakeman. “Denim is incredible. You've got no control over it. You know, you might have something in your pocket that just completely bends it out of shape for years. Your wallet wears a pattern on your back pocket. It's that kind of thing that I like.”Studio NicholsonSorte Pants$505 Studio NicholsonStudio NicholsonLine Pants$400 Studio NicholsonFor Wakeman, the final product isn’t when it’s fresh from the supplier, pressed, swing tag attached. The final product is when the customer has worn it in, moulded it to their own shape, elbows and knees made soft by faithful repetition. The final product is when it’s you.Studio Nicholson was born, nearly 15 years ago, the way all good brands are: to fulfill a need. After selling her first brand—a menswear label called Birdie, which she started with Beams buying director Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe—to a company in Japan years prior, Wakeman was in search of her next project. “I took a couple of years off trying to think about what else I would do with the rest of my life, and couldn't really come up with anything,” she says with a laugh. “So I had to do it all over again!”The idea for Studio Nicholson, in the end, was already there. According to Wakeman, she and her friends were searching for clothes that sat somewhere in the middle of the likes of Cos and Celine (the cultish iteration of it, then run by the sublime Phoebe Philo). It still needed to feel fresh though, with a more affordable cost. An “essential, clean” look, that had the timeless and functional sensibilities of menswear. Wakeman didn’t have to search far and wide.“I looked in my wardrobe and thought: I've got all these men's styles that I tailor—I take the armholes out and make the shoulders smaller. I thought, well…it's all there, really.”Studio Nicholson spring/summer 2025 Studio Nicholson spring/summer 2025 It was. Launching a first collection in 2010, Wakeman sold Studio Nicholson throughout Japan and Korea to a positive first reception. Soft yet boxy knitwear, tailored trousers, slouchy coats, and perfect
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All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
When Nick Wakeman travels, she’ll often go to the airport extra early just to people watch. Across the lounge, in the cafes, outside the gate, she’ll sit, eyes trained on the passengers blurring around the terminal.
“I'm a terrible voyeur,” says Wakeman, the creative director of London-based label Studio Nicholson. “I watch people all the time. I’ll be on holiday and I will be looking at other people's clothes. That's still where I get all my inspiration from: how they move and how their clothes move, the fabric.”
But she isn’t looking for Pinterest-ready outfits to copy and paste. It’s a little deeper than that. The last object of her attention was an older man she saw in a Japanese train station, wandering by in an elegant tailored jacket. But, again, it wasn’t the outfit so much as the person inside it. “This guy that I saw was insane—he had this amazing ivory suit jacket on. But the thing that I love most about old people is that they start shrinking. I'm very inspired by older people and their clothing, because they keep it for a long time, and it changes so much.”
This is one of the core tenets of Studio Nicholson. In an industry dominated by brands that mass produce one-time-wear items that end up in landfill, Wakeman wants to make clothes that not only excite you, but live, grow and change with you.
“The whole point about making clothes is that they should last you a lifetime,” says Wakeman over Zoom from a workroom in Paris, a veil of grey clouds swimming in the skylight behind her. “Look after them, really do wear the shit out of them, and after that, they're going to get better and better in color. The weave comes apart in certain places…that's all part of the beauty of it, really.”
This idea of clothes having a life of their own isn’t solely about sustainability, but about the fabric itself. Wakeman grew up making her own clothes with her mother in Nottingham. She would choose the fabric—denim for dungarees, say, and patterned cottons for shirts—carefully selecting the cloth before her mum would sew it together. Later, Wakeman would go on to study textiles at the Chelsea College of Arts, the same institution that produced the likes of David Hockney and Anish Kapoor, where she learnt about fabrics from their very starting point (“I learned to knit, weave, print, all of it…Lots of designers don't know what to do with a certain fabric, it takes some experience”).
When Wakeman talks about making clothes, she acknowledges the fabric as an active participant, not a bystander. To her, it’s alive.
“I like how fabric changes over time,” says Wakeman. “Denim is incredible. You've got no control over it. You know, you might have something in your pocket that just completely bends it out of shape for years. Your wallet wears a pattern on your back pocket. It's that kind of thing that I like.”
For Wakeman, the final product isn’t when it’s fresh from the supplier, pressed, swing tag attached. The final product is when the customer has worn it in, moulded it to their own shape, elbows and knees made soft by faithful repetition. The final product is when it’s you.
Studio Nicholson was born, nearly 15 years ago, the way all good brands are: to fulfill a need. After selling her first brand—a menswear label called Birdie, which she started with Beams buying director Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe—to a company in Japan years prior, Wakeman was in search of her next project. “I took a couple of years off trying to think about what else I would do with the rest of my life, and couldn't really come up with anything,” she says with a laugh. “So I had to do it all over again!”
The idea for Studio Nicholson, in the end, was already there. According to Wakeman, she and her friends were searching for clothes that sat somewhere in the middle of the likes of Cos and Celine (the cultish iteration of it, then run by the sublime Phoebe Philo). It still needed to feel fresh though, with a more affordable cost. An “essential, clean” look, that had the timeless and functional sensibilities of menswear. Wakeman didn’t have to search far and wide.
“I looked in my wardrobe and thought: I've got all these men's styles that I tailor—I take the armholes out and make the shoulders smaller. I thought, well…it's all there, really.”
It was. Launching a first collection in 2010, Wakeman sold Studio Nicholson throughout Japan and Korea to a positive first reception. Soft yet boxy knitwear, tailored trousers, slouchy coats, and perfect cotton shirts. A men's line came along in 2017, a return back to the original menswear clothes she was adapting for women. And, like a second child, it was a simpler task that time around. “It’s a much easier game. I don't know why I didn't start with that.”
Beyond a commitment to fabric and high-quality construction, Wakeman’s vision from there was more or less free-wheeling. “I didn't have a mission. I just wanted to make what I was into.” What Wakeman is into could be summarized in two words: comfortable and handsome. Everything Studio Nicholson produces is oversized—not in the ill-fitting way, but in the way that everything drapes off the body, breathing room factored in. Each piece, from merino sweaters to leather flight jackets and structured shirts, is made in natural, earthy tones of grays and beiges, chocolate browns and navies. These are pieces you’d see on the bespectacled architect at your local coffee joint who has been anointed by your girlfriend as her hall pass.
Unsurprisingly, this vision of what Wakeman was into is also what everyone else was into. Studio Nicholson quickly launched a series of classics that it still keeps as part of a core collection.
“You get successes, and they become foundations of the business,” says Wakeman. “To give you an example, we made a women's work pant in 2012. It's still running, and it's still our bestseller. And then when we started menswear we put together a men's version and that is also still running.”
Fans of the brand echo that sentiment. 34-year-old Callum Scott, a sales manager from Glasgow, has been a fan of Studio Nicholson since 2020. “The biggest part of my collection is trousers,” says Scott. “I work in a relatively informal environment but I’ve always been in customer-facing roles, so for me it’s important to feel put-together without looking stuffy. Honestly, it takes the first stress out of the day. I know when I get dressed in the morning, if I’m throwing on something from Studio Nicholson, I’m going to feel good.”
The trousers are best-sellers for other retailers, too. Louise Schwartz, senior buyer at End Clothing, says pants are the most consistent choice for customers. “Trousers continue to drive Studio Nicholson’s success, in particular the Sorte Deep Pleat Pant due to its relaxed fit. All colorways [have] great traction. We have also seen a rise in denim performance, with the Petar Denim Jacket and Paolo Jean now staples within our assortment.”
Wakeman’s loyalty to great fabrics resonates with audiences, too. Jordan Curry, a 32-year-old insurance salesman from Portland, Oregon, says to GQ: “The feel of the fabric is what attracted me to the brand in the first place. Studio Nicholson has simple and often understated designs that just work well with so many things. I feel like I'm dressed well in materials that feel amazing. I feel at ease and comfortable.”
The appeal isn’t just on the streets of Glasgow and Portland, either, but also in Hollywood, too. Stylist Michael Fisher, whose roster includes Sebastian Stan, Oscar Isaac, and Jake Gyllenhaal, often dresses his people in Studio Nicholson when they want to look cool and comfortable.
“The clothes work on more casual [red] carpets, premieres, press days, meetings and in real life— which is why my clients love them,” says Fisher. “There are multiple ways to combine the pieces and this versatility is really helpful when wardrobing a client. It gives polish without giving too much ‘fashion’.”
If you fancy a relaxing afternoon, a scroll through Wakeman’s Instagram comes highly recommended. Between shots of Studio Nicholson clothes and, of course, the creative director herself, the feed doubles as an exquisitely curated moodboard: vintage photographs of beautiful women, old runway shots, '90s celebrities, beautifully-lit interiors. In one shot, an Al Pacino suit, tie undone. In another, Jack Nicholson climbing into a cab, the A Few Good Men era, red tinted Ray-Bans on and an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Keanu Reeves makes frequent appearances, as does Kate Moss.
In addition to a very calming digital experience, this practice of online moodboarding also helps Wakeman with each new collection. “It starts with imagery and people and quotes. Feelings and movies. That's where it starts, where something's just tickled me. If it's at the wrong point in the season, I'll remember it, and we get on to that, and then I'll do a rough mood board, and then we'll sit down and talk about it,” says Wakeman of her creative process.
“Often it’s ‘Oh my god, I found this amazing image of so-and-so sitting in the middle of New York on a sofa, and this is what menswear should look like this season.’ Or ‘I've read an amazing book, and there's this quote in it, and this is how we should feel about women's wear this season.’ It's very creative.”
Wakeman reels off her most beloved moments: “Columbo's raincoat, or Mickey Rourke's scarf around his neck, or it could be Keanu Reeves' helmet. It could be anything.”
The one thing Wakeman is not inspired by, however, is outside noise. Whether that’s other brands or arbitrary feedback, Wakeman’s best work is done with her blinders on. “You know, people send me stuff on Instagram. Like, ‘Look at this brand. They're doing that.’ It kind of fucks with your head. You should just be doing what you know is right.
“I don't get negative feedback from stores. I don't go into trade meetings. I don't want to know why someone's returned something and the bum doesn't fit. It’s soul destroying and ruinous for my job—which is to go forwards. That's my job. It is to keep going forwards and not looking back and be excited about the future. I don't want to be in the toilet about the past, really. I'm very guttural, very instinctual. My gut tells me everything. My mum says I’ve always known exactly what I wanted.”
After 14 years of quiet, consistent success, the brand is making big moves this year. A new tranquil and light-filled London store, which opened in Shoreditch in December. A collab with French shoemakers Paraboot for a line of (instantly sold out) piped-seam derbies in late November. In 2025, the brand turns 15, and has promised more good stuff.
But, outside of the fanfare, Wakeman will be continuing on with her own work, unaffected by the noise, blinders on. “The foundations are really important, and you can't lose sight of those products or those principles or any of those things. And I don't think I ever will. I'm incredibly stubborn. I don't want anyone to come along and change my mind. They try.”
This story originally appeared on British GQ.
