Sensing a niche, Emily Nolan left her job at P. Johnson and now exclusively creates bespoke outfits for women.
for everyone”, she won a reputation among brides and clients looking for occasion wear. The surprise growth segment, she says, has been women wanting suits. “At first I wondered, ‘who needs a suit? Will anyone come to see me?’ But suits are not just for work any more.”
This bowerbird approach – sofa-ready comfort, made beautiful – echoes Nolan’s pick’n’mix career path. After sewing with her grandmothers, she joined a neighbourhood sewing circle at 13, surrounded by women in their 60s. “Four hours a week, all the oldies and me,” she says. “Some of my fondest memories are in that room, learning from women much older than me, eating Arnott’s biscuits and listening to SmoothFM.
There is, she says, “some hand-holding” involved. “But after their first suit, which is usually quite corporate, I push them to look at suits in a more relaxed way. Something in a lighter fabric, like linen, and not in black or navy. Something that feels that you could wear it with a T-shirt and sneakers, or silk shirt and heels.”