Nick Howard Lanes is a fashion stylist and designer. He started out working in film and television on hit TV shows like The Voice and Strictly Come Dancing. There, he experienced firsthand how dressing people on stage dramatically influenced their character. Hence, he started ManAboutStyle 8 years ago - a personal styling business aimed at bringing this same kind of transformation to everyone. The goal? Help people improve their confidence and thereby their lives overall. Building upon ManAboutStyle, he recently launched Lanes Studio, his own personal lifestyle and fashion brand.
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Q1. You’ve created a really intriguing brand around yourself over the past several years. What are you especially focusing on these days?
Nick: The biggest focus is definitely Lanes Studio which we just launched in July 2023. We’re basically an elevated essentials brand specialised in ‘authentic living’ as we’re taking very slow, sustainable efforts to create unique pieces of clothing. It's about fashion that inspires you and makes you feel positive about yourself - whether you’re big, tall, small, or thin. We’re adding to our collection with our second release at the end of this month and then we've got another release in September 2024. My day-to-day is always very full on but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Q2. Please introduce us to your home.
Nick: Me and my wife Rosie live in a two-story, two-bedroom Edwardian house in Surrey, a suburb of London. It might not be a big space, but what mattered to us is the potential and the atmosphere. When we first purchased our house we wanted it to be cosy, and we wanted our unique touch on it. So we have a very neutral and very tonal colour palette, keeping the walls quite plain. From there, we put our own individual taste on it. As you walk around our house, you'll see lots of artwork that myself or Rosie has done. Some we’ve even created together. Me and Rosie both spent several weekends together painting that piece which gives it even more meaning.
Q3. What is your creative work space like?
Nick: The living room and my office studio space are definitely my places for inspiration. There’s a lot of little visual touches throughout both of these spaces, and each item supports me in my creative process in different ways. One of my favourite things in here is this little 4K projector, the CineBeam Q. I use it to visualise Tech Packs and drawings for different garments that I'm creating or different visual art ideas that I've got going on. And for movie nights or when friends come around I just move it to the living room and it adjusts automatically to the wall it's projecting on. I love the look of it too. It has a very own unique nuance and I think it sits really well next to my film cameras.
Q4. What are your music preferences?
Nick: If it's a working day, I always kick off with either classical music or ambient music. After lunch, I'll go for more lo-fi beats, and when it gets to the end of the day I'll listen to folk, pop, R&B, grime - anything that I’m inspired by or feeling at the minute. Having music that complements your environment can make you feel calm, it can make you feel motivated, it can make you want to party at times. Making sure you've got the right speaker with the right sound is very important for it. I use this speaker called the XBoom for its sound quality. It actually has an app that changes the lighting, too. I set different lighting to suit the mood and the music that I'm listening to. For me, it's the ideal companion for my day-to-day.
Q5. What fragrances do you use around the house?
Nick: I tend to be drawn towards woody scents and amber scents. I’ve got 10 bottles of fragrances up on my shelves and most of them are quite woody. I feel like, if you like it enough for it to be on your skin, then why not just fill your entire house with it? A fragrance can be an important styling element in how you express yourself, but more than anything it just makes you feel good.
Q6. What kind of cuisine do you enjoy and what’s a typical dinner like at home?
Nick: I always draw to Thai food. It's quite light and it's very aromatic with lovely flavours. Also, its taste reminds me of travelling with my partner Rosie. We actually did a Thai cooking class together that we have some video footage of and we recently watched that back on the projector. We also traveled to Italy for our wedding and we sometimes project that on the wall over dinner, which is a really nice way for us to relive that special day.
Q7. Do you have any favorite materials? How do you apply materials to fashion and interior styling?
Nick: As a stylist, touch is very important to me. When I walk through a store, I’m always touching different materials to see how they feel. I want the wearer to appreciate the clothes I pick out by the feel on my fingertips. Whether it’s the fabric from a cushion, or whether it’s a cashmere throw that you wrap over your legs when you’re watching a movie, it’s very important to create a mood and an emotion that's gonna make you feel like you’re living a fulfilled lifestyle.
Q8. What are your plans for the future?
Nick: The biggest goal for me is to build a positive and happy community through my brand. That's why my personal motto is to “Have a sweet day”. We should remember to be kind to others as well as to yourself. I'm creating my own films nowadays, too. Although they are only 15 seconds long, they allow me to be creative while delivering said motto to the audience. Also, my brand message is always: Authentic Living. I want to transfer this message from my personal styling business onto people’s bodies. The whole purpose of Lanes Studio is to make people feel more confident my means of their wardrobe.
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