Nicholas Oakwell of NO Uniform On The 5 Things You Need To Create a Highly Successful Career In The Fashion Industry

Be humble and grateful of all your and your team’s success. Share success with the people who got you there, or who championed you along the way. Thank them and share the glory with them. But at the same time, be aware of envy and jealousy.

As part of our series about the 5 things you need to succeed in the fashion industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nicholas Oakwell.

Nicholas Oakwell, a distinguished British couturier, with over 30 years’ of experience in the fashion industry, first gained recognition when Harvey Nichols bought his entire degree collection. Oakwell’s training in Couture led him to open his Couture House in 2011 with his debut collection Sylvia shown in Claridge’s Hotel and within 18 months his designs graced the runways of Couture Fashion Week in Paris. The Victoria and Albert Museum honoured Oakwell by selecting a piece from his debut collection to join the esteemed Ball Gown Collection. Nicholas founded No Uniform in 2002, creating sustainable, cutting-edge uniform designs for global leaders in hospitality. Renowned for intricate embellishments, flattering tailoring and elegant evening wear, Nicholas’ exquisite craftsmanship is the signature to all of NO Uniform’s designs. Every bespoke design authentically represents and elevates brand identities through innovative design, championing luxury and sophistication. His creations grace the red carpet, worn by celebrities like Hilary Swank, Helen Mirren, Gillian Anderson and more frequently receive international press coverage alongside Dior, Chanel and Valentino.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Initially, I studied fashion because I wanted to be a couture designer. However, this was the mid ’80s, and the couture industry was dying with only 2,000 customers global. Believe it or not, being a couturier wasn’t perceived to be ‘cool’.

There was something about couture, though, that really resonated with me. I was eager to learn the craft of clothes, but the course was more focused on designer-mass manufacture — China was the new production hub of the world, so the mindset was on the mass.

In one of the modules, millinery, I was taught by Shirley Hex who also mentored Stephen Jones and Philip Tracy who graduated the year after me. I gravitated to this as it was learning a craft and using my hands.

I left my degree with Harvey Nichols buying my collection of 16 hats that were based on the Covent Garden flower market. By end of the season, Harvey Nichols had sold 40 units.

I was now a milliner, making hats for London and European designers, as well as working on my own label selling to UK, Europe, New York, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. I closed the business after three years employing eight staff and not knowing a thing about business — I was only 23!

I then worked for Danish couture designer for six years starting in the workroom. I was promoted to head of workroom then head of operations. Here was my learning time for couture. I was lucky to work with artisans that had worked in Dior Chanel Valentino couture workrooms. To be honest, I loved this time, as couture was starting to be seen differently. Galliano was at Dior, McQueen at Givenchy, were breathing fresh air into the industry — actually, it was more of an explosion.

From there I was in two minds whether or not to go to Paris, to be a workroom assistant in a couture house and climb the ladder, or continue working for Harvey Nichols in charge of the workroom and my own label.

I decided to stay at Harvey Nichols because I wanted to see the other side of the process, plus I knew the brand well. They allowed me to undertake many training courses in topics such as financing departments, health and safety, HR and marketing. On reflection, these lessons set me up to run a business — I think of that era as my business education.

Whilst there, a friend asked me to design some uniforms for a boutique hotel in Chelsea, which was not conflict to Harvey Nichols, so there I was, working on my first hotel, which sheltered a staff of just 45 people.

At the opening party, I met the General Manager of the Great Eastern Hotel. She asked if I would design the uniforms for her hotel. My reply was that ‘I’m a designer — I don’t do uniforms’. She responded by saying that she had a budget of £250k for 200 staff. I said ‘yes’ quicker than it took her to take another sip of champagne.

So, NO Uniform was born in 2002. I spent nine months painstakingly designing, sampling, manufacturing and installing the uniforms for the Great Eastern Hotel.

From that hotel, I was asked to design the uniforms at The Goring and Browns Hotel, and it all just snowballed from there.

In 2006, I set up an office in Dubai and one in New York. With the world economy crash of 2008/9, I was forced to close these offices with a great deal of money owed to me, which was a hard lesson to confront.

I reduced the team dramatically and continued with local clients to grow the company slowly. In 2011, I launched my couture house whilst running NO Uniform. The house did well from the get-go, attracting a mix of clients from Europe, America, ME and China. The collections were seen on many red carpets globally and the looks garnered international press attention.

I had my own store on Brook Street that really was a window into the world of couture — it was immeasurable to have a presence like that in Mayfair. I was approached for a large investment in which we signed contracts, and leases to a property in the neighbourhood that become the House of Oakwell, but the investment funds never arrived. After a year of chasing, I learnt that same-sex marriage was not accepted by the investors.

Soon after that, my then husband and I ended our marriage, which, thinking back now, is quite ironic.

As a creative, I have learnt to accept — I would go as far as ‘embrace’ — these extremes. While those lessons are painful, for me, they somehow shape the future.

I completed another collection, which was based on the Zulu film (2017) which my former husband’s grandfather wrote. It was a collection that was in my mind and I just had to get it out of me. It was a successful range. However, for me, everything was getting overwhelming, so I handed back the store, reduced the couture work and decided to recoil for a while.

NO Uniform continued to win and complete projects around the world. Between 2019 and 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we managed to deliver two hotels — Nobu London Portman Square and The Jumeirah Carlton Tower. It was a very challenging landscape for everyone and it forced us to adjust how we worked.

In the wake of the pandemic, when the hospitality industry was, indeed, waking up from its forced hibernation, NO Uniform continued to grow. Winning projects in the Middle East, such as Raflles Doha and Fairmont Doha, allowed us to really flex our creative muscles in the international arena.

In January 2022, I finished my next collection, Hitchcock, which was inspired by the three films Grace Kelly had filmed with Hitchcock, To Catch a Thief, Dial M for Murder and to catch a thief. Hitchcock was a collection that was inside me since Zulu — creatively, when Zulu completed, Hitchcock began for me.

Personally, while the pandemic was stressful, that period was like hitting the ‘reset’ button in my personal life, and it got my couture brain thinking clearly again.

At the end 2023, NO Uniform delivered for the new 3–644-room Fontainebleau Las Vegas, and its founding hotel in Miami in 2024.

We continue to be working with more and more hotels globally — wow, the amount of hotels that are opening, and the brands are expanding, is off the scale. In the couture sphere, meanwhile, I continue to dress talent on the red carpet and work for private clients. I love that I’m able to weave the two worlds — couture and hospitality — together, but never do the two really meet as they are so different.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started?

To be honest, I feel like in business I have given birth to twins — there is my couture work and then there is NO Uniform. Both businesses and brands require a lot of creative and practical attention, but, like all siblings, they kind of compliment each other. I know that the luxury hospitality industry is attracted to the fact that NO Uniform is couture made practical to withstand the demand of the hospitality industry. I would have to admit that couture culture has changed the most, and I’m not sure it is for the better.

When I started [in couture], we were dressing the stars of those days in which they paid for their gowns (of course discounted), but they paid and you worked directly with them.

Now, it’s gone 360 degrees, where the design houses are paying the stars for talent (the new buzzword) to wear gowns on the red carpets. There are agencies that place dresses on stars. The stylist and a whole jamboree around the talent all get paid.

I was dressing a talent for the Oscars, through our agency and the stylist. I created a special dress, all made, fitted and ready to go. Five days before the awards, we were informed the talent is now wearing a “luxury brand” and being paid $250,000, plus all the entourage would be getting their cut. The red carpet is very controlled by the big fashion brands. So, if you think about it, you are paying £450 for your sneakers that were made in China for $18 plus expensive packaging and the rest goes to pay for the talent to wear these clothes on the red carpet.

Another story was when I was dressing a talent for the global film premier — the dresses were selected and made for the talent. One hour before the premier, the publicist for the film changed the two leading ladies’ red-carpet looks to create the narrative of the talent on the screen onto the red carpet. However, she wore the two gowns on the red carpet in different premiere in Asia and USA. So, what we see is very managed, controlled and planned.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Mistakes are part and parcel of any business.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

To not be complacent. A lot of clients ask us to replicate what we have done for other hotels / brands. It would be easy for me to produce the same garment in a different colour palette, but I don’t do that. Our design team work best when they understand the fabrics of the brands they are designing for. Technically, we need to keep pushing the boundaries, thinking out the box and delivering wardrobes that our clients are amazed by.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Personally, my work is more of a lifestyle, and health is paramount. I get up at 5am, exercise for 90 minutes. I eat a vegetarian diet, meditate often and have a low alcohol consumption. In the week, I am in London and at the weekends I relax in Oxfordshire. Fashion is my life, and I love hotels restaurants and bars, so it’s very much part of me. However, in this industry it is very easy to burn the candle at both ends. You have to look after your wellbeing — and sometimes it is important to put it all aside to recharge mentally and physically.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I try to think what I do in designing, weather its uniforms or couture gowns, it brings joy to the wearer. In couture, my objective is how the person feels, not how they looked. Deliberately, we never had a mirror in the changing room, so they would need to come out to show us. We would then ask how they felt. There is that moment of sliding into a garment that has been made for you, it holds and touches you exactly in the right places that just makes you feel incredible. That’s the moment, that’s the feeling that I aim to curate.

With uniforms, it is not only about capturing the brand identity but it is also about making the team feel great. You have to remind yourself, that these people are wearing these clothes for eight — 10 hour days. Hospitality is a tough industry to work in, so to feel comfortable — to feel confident — in what you are wearing can only lead to performing better. We also are very conscious about the environment, so we do our best to use recessed fabrics, minimal packaging and make the garments well so they last years.

Do you have a favourite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?

My mother once told my brothers and I, if you fall over what do you do? You can only get up, learn from the fall and get up a better person than when you fell. I have fallen many times (gracefully, I hope). I try to do better each day and learn each day.

Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?

I think there has been education to the world of design, which is both good and bad. People are now a lot more aware of clothes and the relevance it can bring to a life. In the couture world, we are seeing so many artisans being employed — skills are growing, and there are talents everywhere that people see and understand. And, of course, there is the mass “luxury brand products” that now have become the high street!

Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “Top 5 Things Needed to Succeed in the Fashion Industry”. Please share a story or example for each.

1 . Resilience. You will constantly be judged, spoken about, and you will fall over. You just need to be tough and let it not hurt you. Its easier said than done, for sure. It’s hard, and you have to confront your own self-doubt that you have to battle with so this on top is tough. But be true to your vision / beliefs and yourself.

2 . Listen to advice as much as you can. If you take advice claim that advice because if you take it and it goes wrong you can’t blame it on that person. Don’t use them as the escape goat, own it.

3 . Be humble and grateful of all your and your team’s success. Share success with the people who got you there, or who championed you along the way. Thank them and share the glory with them. But at the same time, be aware of envy and jealousy.

4 . Don’t get caught up in the circus that the fashion industry seems to create, which attracts all that it comes with it.

5 . Be true to your belief and remember why you started this journey.

Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?

We know how much waste / pollution comes with fashion. We need to consume better as individuals, while companies need to produce better.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I made NO Uniform vegan in 2020, so we do not produce with leather or fur anymore.

I’m vegetarian because I cannot eat something that has been killed to feed myself. As humans we have the knowledge of health and can live off a vegan lifestyle. However, that’s my choice, but what is very wrong is how we farm meat and fish — there is no respect for life and the cruelty to these animals in their short life and the slaughter is abhorrent.

Socially and ethically, we can do so much more. I have my personal view on the meat trade and, while there has been an amplification in the media around the issue, in this on-demand society it seems to be getting worse, not better.

The dog meat trade in Asia, for example, is awful. The way they are cooked alive for the meat to taste better is barbaric. However, at the same time, what’s the difference to a dog over a lobster, as they are cooked alive?! Yes, you can pat and cuddle a dog — its cute especially when it’s a puppy — but why is a dog’s life more valuable than a lobster which can live up to 50 years! Cows, sheep, deer, goat, the meat trade, all these animals have emotions, feel pain, have anxiety, can we not be mindful of this when we raise them and end their lives to feed ours?

We are draining the seas of marine life, and we are unbalancing the food chain — again these animals feel pain and anxiety. There seems to be a massive growth of vegans and vegetarians around the world, however the meat industry is expanding due to the mass of cheap meat to third-world countries as they are now starting to consume meat. They don’t know the impact they have with this, but we do, and we choose not to correct these industries. We are guests of this world for a fleeting moment, should we not try leave it in a better place or at least in the same state as when we arrived?

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!