He lived in Italy until he was seven (his father is Italian and still lives there), then came to live in the UK with his mother and sister. At 15, he started “working in fashion” in the Hampstead branch of Benetton. At the time Benetton was at its peak and those old enough to remember will immediately think of Benetton’s trailblazing and controversial adverts featuring multi-ethnic models and brightly coloured knitwear, not to mention the careful folding of the clothes.
Much of the stock came from Italy and Lakeland secured himself a position on the shop floor by initially translating invoices from Italian to English for the store manager. Lakeland is animated and nostalgic when talking about this time, 35 years ago. “I loved working in the shop and learned a lot,” he tells me, and looking at the bright colours around me, I see that Benetton inspiration.
He also worked on a stall in Camden market with his sister, Philippa, who still helps him today, running the wholesale side of the business. It wasn’t a typical job for a University College School boy, but for a shy, fashion-obsessed teenager, it was the best place to be.
Selling clothes that he customised himself was “an incredible experience that really allowed me to be myself” and as he honed his skill, “It was obvious to me I was always going to be in fashion.”
However, he chose not to study fashion design, and studied accountancy at the University of Warwick. “Thank God, I did the accountancy,” he exhales, saying that the successes and failures of others in the fashion industry are often down to financial problems.
And actually, if he hadn’t become an accountant he might not have become a fashion designer either. During his final year of studies he became ill and missed an exam. He was allowed to re-sit but had to wait three months, so he went travelling, visiting his father in Milan. “And that was it,” he says. “I stayed”.
He got a job working in an Italian wholesale company selling shirts and blouses, working with the designers at fashion houses like Burberry and DAKS Simpson.
After two and a half years he had “met all the buyers” and “learned a lot about design and how clothes are made” and thought he could do, if not better, at least just as well.
His mother, who he was close to until her recent death and who he credits as a real inspiration (“she was always perfectly dressed — which can be a hindrance in my career as I am quietly judgemental”) persuaded him to open his first business and they got a “tiny” showroom in Cavendish Square in London.
Mother and son would go back to Italy every ten days and he has worked with the same Italian pattern cutters for over 20 years. He managed early on to get concessions in Selfridges and Harrods and his first advertorial photoshoot was in Vogue.
“When I started I was very trendy” he tells me, noting that James Lakeland clothes now, while still on trend, have more longevity to them for a more discerning customer. “It’s one of those brands, if you know him, you know him,” says Natalie. Lakeland agrees: “I definitely have a look.”
This look has been honed over 25 years of getting to know his customer.
“Lots of designers make clothes for an ideal woman— guess what? She doesn’t exist!” Lakeland laughs. This of course is something every woman who has gone shopping for a pair of jeans knows, but it’s heartening to hear it from a designer. As part of his mission to dress anyone from a size 8 to a size 20, he samples his clothes in the office, using his staff as real-life models. He describes himself as “a workaholic and very hands-on” and still visits his shops regularly, as well as travelling the world looking for inspiration. “Wherever you go in the world there is a vibe, an energy — I observe it, I feel it and that comes with me when I launch a new collection.”
Colour is very important in his collections (“I think in colour all the time, although I don’t really wear it!”) as is style.
“I think ‘stylish’ is a very important word. ‘Elegant’: somehow people think that that means ‘older’ but it isn’t. Words are important.”
His wife Michelle also loves clothes. They didn’t meet in the fashion world, but she was working in Harrods at the same time Lakeland launched his concession there, and their courtship played out on the green and gold floors of the famous shop. She now runs the flagship James Lakeland shop in St Johns Wood.
They live in Highgate and are members of Lauderdale Road Synagogue, and have passed on their love of fashion to their two daughters, Melodie, nine and Alissia, 16, whom he describes as having “a keen fashion eye.” He describes how Alissia “decorates her room with her favourite ads from magazines or models she likes. I had exactly the same wall.”
He recalls a story which illustrates Alissia’s inherited style, James Lakeland’s intergenerational appeal and Lakeland’s relationship with his customers. For his recent 50th birthday bash he took Alissia into the warehouse and told her to pick anything she wanted to wear. She zeroed in on a dress that had sold out. “I had to buy it back from a customer, but that was the dress she wanted and she was right.”
Lakeland is well known in the charity sector. Michelle suffers from MS and he has run a number of fashion shows to make money for the MS charity Make Sense Of It, including a show at Alissia’s school, JFS, and an upcoming event at James Lakeland HQ in East Finchley for 450 people.
He also supports a number of schools including one in Israel called Or Chadash. His voice drops as we discuss this; more earnest than the enthusiastic chatter that characterised our interview so far. “I would like to grow [the charity support], I think it’s very important.”
Returning to fashion, Lakeland jumps out of his seat to show me the stripe that runs through his Spring/Summer 2019 collection, telling me that since the rise of the internet he’s had to up his game a bit. “The whole market is your competition!” he asserts, noting that “when the internet era started I realised I needed to be online.”
But Lakeland is no stranger to selling his clothes outside of a bricks and mortar shop. He has sold his fashion on TV shows including QVC and the Italian equivalent HSE24 and is launching a channel in Dubai at the end of the year. “Retail is changing massively,” he says, “but online is growing the most.
“I see a trend that people might not agree with: the shops that remain will be very successful but they will have to change how they operate.”
He gives the example of an in-home personal shopping service, saying that “I can see this from us in the future.”
But for now, he’s focussing on opening a concession in the new O2 outlet centre opening in the old Millennium Dome building in Greenwich later this year and getting ready to launch the James Lakeland brand internationally.
“You’ve got to believe in what you do and love what you,” he says enthusiastically. “Never take anything for granted.”
Like this? Sign up for more with our JC Life newsletter https://www.thejc.com/subscribe
From fabulous recipes, to parenting tips; travel and West End entertainment; insightful interviews and much more: there’s more to the JC than news
