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fashion
Love Letters: Emily Nolan
28/05/25
Author: RIISE Team
DOCUMENTED BY: RIISE
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Love Letters is a series of visual and written odes to somewhere, someone or something that inspires joy. Each letter is a celebration of the moments of delight in the lives of the creatives who inspire RIISE.
“You come in as yourself and you leave a little more yourself” says Emily Nolan, the magnetic founder of made-to-measure label E Nolan. Emily’s deeply considered approach to tailoring challenges many of its traditional notions. With an understanding that fashion can make many people feel excluded, Emily seeks to use tailoring to cater to all. Her fitting appointments are conversational. No two garments are ever the same because no two people are. We spoke to Emily about her passion for tailoring and what sets E Nolan apart.
RIISE: How is E Nolan different from a traditional tailoring house?
EN: E Nolan is a tailoring house, yes, but not in the way you might expect. We don’t deal in uniforms or declarations of power; we are not about status, or symmetry, or belonging to a trend. I am not interested in stamping my taste onto someone else’s body. Instead, I start with questions. What makes you feel seen? What do you hate wearing? What do you dream of wearing but never thought you could? We build from there. Our fittings are conversational and a little theatrical. It’s not about transformation, it’s about recognition. You come in as yourself and you leave a little more yourself.
Made-to-measure suiting is a vehicle for clients to have control over the fit, design and choice of quality fabrication. I hope to bring a fresh perspective that subverts the traditional elements of men’s tailoring and explores the boundaries of sartorial self-expression for women, trans and non-binary people.
RIISE: What makes you passionate about creating bespoke pieces?
EN: There is something wildly intimate about bespoke work. You are invited into someone’s life in a very particular way. You take their measurements, but you are also being asked to witness them. Making a bespoke piece is like solving a riddle where the answer is the person standing in front of you. No two garments are ever the same because no two people are. I love that. I love that someone who has never worn a suit in their life will look at themselves in the mirror and say, quietly, “Oh. There I am.”
It is slow work. But it is work that honours the individual. And that, to me, feels like the most worthwhile kind of fashion.
RIISE: How did you get into tailoring? What drew you to it?
EN: Clothing is my joy. It’s child’s play and a very deep love language, maybe the most important love language. I was raised and loved by brilliant women. I wasn’t an easy kid, teenager or adult, I’m inspired by their disposition, courage and patience. I grew up making and it’s pretty magical to absorb how other women work. They aren’t as messy as I am, but perhaps they’ve gotten tidier with age - something to look forward to.
The made-to-measure process carries the welcome restraint of an individual client’s brief. Rather than limiting creativity, it sharpens it—working within defined boundaries can sometimes reveal more than starting with a blank canvas. Tailoring offers structure when life feels unruly, and beauty in the form of problem-solving. I enjoy the discipline and am drawn to the ritual of it. The pins, the measuring tapes, the shears, the pride, the relief, the tears, the tantrums, the idle time and racing thoughts whilst working quite methodically. A healthier vice and obsession.
RIISE: How does wearing a bespoke suit make you feel?
EN: Like you’ve just remembered something important about yourself. It understands that your body is not a standard, it’s a signature. Clothes can offer a kind of stillness. A custom garment lets you arrive somewhere and not fidget. Be present. Unapologetic. Not to become someone else, but to show up as yourself. Feeling dressed, rather than dressed up.
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Documented By: RIISE
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