“I think women should look real,” says Nick Wakeman, creative director and founder of Studio Nicholson, who started the brand by reinventing classic men’s pieces for women. “I’m interested in how we wear clothes as women,” she says. Introducing Studio Nicholson WOMAN, a new editorial series exploring what womenswear means through stories with real women.
Studio Nicholson Woman - Lyn Harris
British perfumer Lyn Harris founded Perfumer H in 2015. She is based in London where she has a laboratory. Raised between Scotland and Yorkshire, Harris was trained by Monique Schlienger in Paris and Fragrance House Robertet in Grasse. Perfumer H has global spaces, including sites in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Lyn is photographed by Julien Hamon with videography by Marc Dimitrov at Crawford
Street, London.
She is wearing Denjo Denim Pant in Black, Moray Cashmere Double Sweatshirt in Charcoal Marl, and Leto Shirt in White, all by Studio Nicholson. Cap, sneakers and jewellery, Lyn’s own.
What was the last outfit or clothing that made you dizzy with joy?
“I tend to wear a uniform. At the moment, I’m particularly in love with an old pair of chinos which I hadn’t worn very often. I just like the way they mould around me and look effortless. I get excited when an item of clothing I’ve had for years finally gets worn in.”
Great clothing should do what exactly?
“They define who you are. They say everything about you. They should be effortless and timeless. The appeal of a uniform is that I have so much going on in my life, I don’t want to think about my clothing. Though because I am quite a detail person, I do. So I have this uniform: t-shirts, shirts, trousers, and there is this repetition which I love."
How should clothes make you feel as a woman?
“I’m not a stereotype, woman, I guess. I like my clothes to express my personality and my
mood.”
“I dress like the male members of my family, like my dad and my grandfather. I like to dress up, but I always have to have something that has an edge, that dresses it down. If I’m wearing a suit, I have to wear a really old t-shirt and a cap with it. I can’t wear something that’s too perfect.”
Who is one of the most stylish women you’ve met?
“I worked with Jane Birkin. She had such instinct in everything she did or said. She was inquisitive and assertive. She would always arrive and look incredible at any time of the day and never had a stylist.”
"I’m not a stereotype, woman, I guess. I like my clothes to express my personality and my mood."
Who are your favourite style pinups?
"Tilda Swinton. I’m quite intrigued by her. She’s really strong in her approach. She has a femininity and a beauty I admire. I think it’s older women that I am attracted to. I find it fascinating when women age with this mix of elegance and fearlessness. When a kind of wisdom kicks in."
Do you remember being into clothes from an early age?
“My parents always really liked clothes. My grandfather was immaculate and had all these check shirts which were subtly different and beautiful. He would button his shirt up to the top and wore a white t-shirt underneath, with a jacket. He wore braces everyday. He had a workwear jacket, which I do too.”
What were you doing before this shoot?
“I was looking at formulas and smelling my work from yesterday, comparing some trials and setting up my day creatively. I was talking to my son. We’re quite similar. He loves clothes actually, we share each other’s wardrobes, which is quite special.”
How long typically does it take you to get ready in the morning?
“It takes me about five minutes. But I’ll have probably thought about it a bit the night before. What I love about this period of my life is that I know now what works. I don’t experiment. I absolutely love fashion and I love clothes and they’re important to me. But I am spending a lot of time walking into shops and walking back out. I think that is because I am much more confident in my want.”
"I find it fascinating when women age with this mix of elegance and fearlessness. When a kind of wisdom kicks in."
What should a great fragrance do for a person?
“A great fragrance should do everything. It should express their beauty, their style, their personality. It should just be this aura around them. My grandmother always smelled the same - I can smell her now - and it was so cool and beautiful. She wore dresses with an apron on top and had beautiful jewellery.”
“A good fragrance should do everything. It’s a gentle whisper of something that just feeds and excites the people that you’re with.”
When you meet someone do you notice their smell first?
“When I first meet people I smell them. We are all animals, and we smell each other and we’re attracted to each other by smell. We all have our signature smell and we should work with it.”
“What I love doing as well is sitting in a restaurant, or a busy place, or even on public transport and just smelling people and thinking ‘does that fragrance go with them’ ‘Would I wear that? Or what should they be wearing?’ So, I play these endless games, which I love, especially when I am travelling. It passes so much time. Because at the end of the day, my job is to bring joy to people and hopefully bring beauty.”
Three words that sum up your style and character?
Utilitarian, timeless and Tomboy.
"A good fragrance should do everything. It’s a gentle whisper of something that just feeds and excites the people that you’re with."
PHOTOGRAPHED BY JULIEN HAMON
VIDEO BY MARC DIMITROV at Crawford Street, London
VIDEO BY MARC DIMITROV at Crawford Street, London
