Back of the Wardrobe

I have nothing to wear! Admit it—you’ve chanted this overused phrase to yourself countless times, while staring at your fully-stocked wardrobe. Then as you make an effort to magically construct an outfit out of nothing, you approach your closet once more and hear yourself saying ‘no’, ‘not this’, ‘I hate that’, ‘what was I even thinking.’ We’ve all fallen out of love with our clothes and felt the need to hit the streets in search of another getup that we will wear once and get tired of in no time at all.

Meet Emma Slade, the answer to your prayers. Emma is the founder of Back of the Wardrobe [BOW], which offers clients the opportunity to revamp their wardrobe with the items they already own. But surely you can purchase new clothes for the £115 that Emma charges for a session. “Back of the Wardrobe promotes sustainability and encourages you to maximize the most of your wardrobe without having to constantly buy new clothes,” says Sophie Moore, Emma’s latest client. “The concept is really refreshing in this modern and disposable world. I love the idea that fashion doesn’t have to always mean buying new things.”

If you’re into clothing reuse, charity shops and vintage finds then Emma is your kind of gal. She sums up her organisation’s goal in a slogan, ‘old clothes, new ways of wearing them.’ Back when Emma was at university, when her flatmate constantly complained that she wasn’t fashionable. Emma responded by going into her flatmate’s wardrobe, insisting that she must have more than what she was wearing. And Back of the Wardrobe was born.

Emma takes a fresh look at your wardrobe and puts together items that you wouldn’t normally. She says, “I don’t want to just come up with outfits that people would usually put together themselves. I want to find their style-happy place and that’s not the same as their comfort zone.”

How does Emma find your style-happy-place? All of her clients are given an in-depth questionnaire about their style insecurities and what they want to achieve, prior to their session. This helps her understand you before the meeting and allows her to make personalised preparations for the upcoming session. “My questions are really good,” she proclaims. And her clients agree. “I thought the questionnaire […] asked intelligent and insightful questions and it was clear how important the questionnaire was to the session,” says Emma Cox, a BOW client who wanted to rediscover her style after having a baby. 

When Emma arrives she has a thorough chat with you. She will also prepare a style board which documents, where your style is currently, where you want your style to go and what she will do to get you there. Sophie Moore raves “Emma has a natural way with people. She makes you feel comfortable the instant you meet her. She has a lovely approach to the beginning of the session where you sit and chat with a cup of coffee to go over your style board. It feels professional but informal—exactly what you need if you are anxious about someone rifling through your wardrobe!”

After the consultation you both look at items you tend not to wear, talk about why you bought them and figure out what to pair them with. She then looks at your wardrobe as a whole and asks you about your staple pieces and the items that you grab in a rush.

If you’re worried about not having any good items, don’t fret. “I’ve never been through someone’s wardrobe and they had nothing to work with,” says Emma. “That would mean you have no clothes at all.”

While she constructs a range of new outfits for you to try on, you will take a few pictures in your everyday clothing, which she will ask you to have on prior to her arrival. When you return, get ready to ditch your ordinary get-up and hop into outfits from your revamped wardrobe. But does her clients like the outcome every time? Emma explains that because the sessions are a collaborative process, she’s never had an unsatisfied customer. “By the time I go to put certain items together, I know this person,” she says.

“Emma did a great job. I was so pleased with the outcome,” comments Emma Cox about her style session. “Not only was she [Emma Slade] a stylist, she was a bit of a shrink too! I found myself telling her about my body issues and insecurities.” This is not very shocking. Emma Slade graduated university with a psychology degree and she can see therapeutic aspects to what she does. “Styling is a little bit like therapy for both parties,” she says. “And I think intuition and reading a person, having a sensitive understanding of where someone is coming from is really important.”

BOW also throws parties—a less popular service. Emma has only thrown about ten in her styling career. They require a host—a hen or a birthday girl—who get’s an express styling session. Emma will conduct a less personal consultation in front of party guests and put together one outfit for the host. After the mini session, everyone plays a styling game that requires guests to guess which outfit the host would choose to wear in a certain scenario. “They are tongue in cheek, funny scenarios”, says Emma. They include: a reunion, a first date, or meeting the boyfriend’s parents. It really depends on the age group.” The host can also book a make-up artist who will give a tutorial on a smoky eye, or dramatic looks for a night out. 

Along with BOW, Emma takes part in a number of events including her own, Charity Fashion Live. London Fashion Week is great promotion for her business, so it makes sense that her favourite event happens during this time. She goes to charity shops and recreates catwalk looks while watching them live on her iPad. “There’s no fakery, there’s no preparation. It’s purely what is in the shop at the time and it is supposed to be a way of showing people that fashion is for everyone,” says Emma. “[Charity Fashion Live] is inclusive. In some respects [fashion] feels quite exclusive. This is one of my least favourite things about fashion. And that’s not what Back of the Wardrobe is about. It’s about inclusivity and letting everyone enjoy style.”