Caroline Andrew and Emma Willis Have Set Up Shop in Mayfair

“I met Caroline’s suits before I met Caroline,” says Emma Willis, of bespoke tailor Caroline Andrew. Last month, Willis, the legendary shirtmaker and Andrew, one of the rising stars in the tailoring world, announced they would be opening a joint venture: a shop in London’s Mayfair where Andrew’s meticulous suiting and Willis’ much-sought-after shirting will available under one roof. The pair spoke exclusively with Robb Report in their first joint interview about what drew them to each other, their shared values, and being women at the top of their game in a notoriously male-dominated industry. 

Shared Beginnings

In speaking to Caroline and Emma about the early foundations of their careers, it becomes apparent that their eventual partnership was kismet, with both women being drawn to the arts in school and feeling most at home in creative classes. “I started off at University College, London studying English Literature,” says Willis. “But after five weeks I saw people wandering around with paint brushes and easels and I thought, ‘that’s what I really want to do’.” Likewise, Caroline began by getting a foundation diploma at the London College of Fashion before being offered a spot at the University for the Creative Arts in London studying menswear design and bespoke tailoring. 

Both recount, in almost uncanny parallels, the trials of those early days: the challenges of paying rent, meeting the demands of the London fashion scene, and carving out a sustainable niche where each could flourish. For Willis, that early conduit came in the form of an ad in the back of the Evening Standard. “It was a job selling clothes, which was not at all what I wanted to be doing,” says Willis, who was at the time studying music, dance, and art. She was given a bag of clothing, men’s and women’s, to sell. “In all of it, the only thing I really liked were the men’s shirts,” she says, something she had developed an appreciation for as her father always dressed beautifully. “I thought, I can really sell these shirts; my heart’s in the shirts.” Willis then called up some friends who were beginning their careers in London and asked if she could bring some shirts by. “I arrived in the boardroom before the markets opened and I think at my first appointment I must have sold one hundred shirts.” 

From there, Willis took over a small bespoke workroom in East London, using the principles of traditional English shirtmaking, but using pastel fabrics from Swiss mills. Together, with three seamstresses and a voracious client base eager to spread the word about her talents, her business grew, taking her all over the world before she put down roots on Jermyn Street in London. She opened her brick and mortar business when she was thirty five – the age Andrew is now, as they begin this business together. 

For her part, Andrew’s career path started on its current course when one of her university tutor’s asked if anyone was available to help out at Burberry to do last minute preparations for a fashion show. “They needed help switching out the buttons on trench coats,” she recalls. “I’m working with this white leather jacket, my fingers are bleeding because I wasn’t fully adequate with a thimble yet, and it was 2:00 AM the night before the show, when someone called me in to see the woman who ran product development. All I could think was, oh god, did I ruin coat? And she just asked me who I was, why I was still there so late—and then she offered me an internship.” From Burberry, Andrew worked for Jonathan Saunders, honing her craft and her eye. But her heart remained in menswear. “I would be in the basement sorting through archival clothing and I remember thinking I want to be around something that’s going to stick around—how can I surround myself with pieces that are going to last a long time?”

She started grabbing coffee and croissants and heading over to the basements Savile Row on Saturday mornings, asking if she could watch the tailors work. “They all became like grandparents to me,” she says of the group of tailors who showed her the ropes, and even attended her graduation, alongside her own family, who traveled to London from the Scottish border. In those basements, Andrew’s fate was sealed, and after working her way through some of the most well known names on the Row she opened her own shop, where she’s built a reputation for her exacting work. 

A Perfect Fit

Willis and Andrew say their initial introduction to one another was through their clothes, a language telegraphed back and forth without ever speaking a word but rather standards, technique, and precision all laid out in stitches, finishings, and seams. Willis would often see Andrew’s suits on her clients and vice versa, and recognized in an instant a shared appreciation for quality. It was Willis who called up Andrew and suggested the pair get a drink, though Andrew conceded she was, initially, intimidated by Willis. She was instantly disarmed, however, when she learned they both got a foothold by cold calling clients to start their business. “She’s so amusing, and unpretentious,” Willis says of Andrew, recalling how the pair hit it off in an instant. 

It’s hard to overstate the significance of two women opening a bespoke tailoring shop together. Savile Row and bespoke tailoring writ large is notoriously male dominated—from clientele to craftsman, women have long been a minority presence. Though that is changing, thanks to the example of women like Willis and Andrew. And their reputation is hard-earned, in particular because being a woman in the business means being held to a unique standard. “I am so persnickety,” says Andrew. “My eyes are razor sharp. Everything is on time, every button hole is in place. Everything has to be seamless because I’m a woman. We do not make mistakes–I cannot make mistakes.”

Willis recounts one client who came into her Jermyn Street shop, rather dubious. “Women don’t make shirts,” he said. And I said, “Well I do, and I have been for ten years now.” He didn’t believe me, so I told him, “Fine, let me make you a shirt.” Predictably, he loved it so much he became a regular. Another client, she says, came to her and explained he chose her business because she was the only female shirtmaker on Jermyn Street. “He knew, if I’d broken into Jermyn street, I must be really good,” she says.

That confluence of circumspection and being held to a higher standard makes for a precarious challenge, but one that was no match for both women’s talent and passion. Both Andrews and Willis agree that for all the trials along the way, there has been an excess of gestures, big and small, of support and camaraderie. Their work speaks for itself; in both an Emma Willis shirt and a Caroline Andrew suit, there is a level of craftsmanship that is simply undeniable. In the world of bespoke tailoring, that precision is the most valuable currency and has rightly earned Willis and Andrew the respect of their peers and a sought after roster of clientele that includes senior royals and titans of industry. 

Rolling Out the Welcome Mat

It’s not just the quality of their work that unites Willis and Andrew and makes them perfect partners. Both put a premium on ensuring that customers feel welcome, at ease, and comfortable during what can often be a stressful process. “I really enjoy the communication process,” says Willis. “You’ve got to build trust because this is, for a lot of people, a big financial investment. And with all the measuring and the discussing, you have to feel a sense of [comfort].”

Just as Andrew and Willis’ venture together marks a point of progress in the bespoke community, both take great strides in their business to ensure everyone can walk through their doors and feel like they belong. The relationship between a bespoke tailor or shirtmaker and their client is an intimate one that requires the utmost trust. Clients’ bodies often bear the marks of their experiences, and a fitting for a bespoke garment can mean laying bare deep insecurities. Willis and Andrew both pride themselves on being inclusive and empathetic in their practice, never wanting a client to feel intimidated or out of place simply because they fall outside the spectrum of the typical male Savile Row client. Critically, it’s an ethos Willis has made part of her life’s work through her nonprofit Style for Soldiers which provides bespoke garments and more to injured veterans, many of whom are amputees. 

And Andrew speaks candidly about how she wants everyone to know, regardless of their size or their gender, that their business is one that will meet their needs. “I understand the insecurities,” she says, “What I love about Emma and how we both are, is that everyone is welcome. We really demystify the process. Clients come in, we’ll drink some champagne, and it’s really fun. It’s not a chore, it’s not painful.” Instead, what Willis and Andrew offer is an affirming experience for their clients, one where the benefit of working with them is not only in their superior garments, but in the way you feel when you wear them.