A day in the life of Lucas Nicholson

You’ve probably spotted him if you follow Drake’s Instagram account, or stumbled across his own page @anovelsuit, where he posts old black and white pictures of well-dressed guys with captions such as “Fishing for likes…”. On the (grey) day we first met, in his cosy South London apartment, Lucas Nicholson was wearing olive corduroy pants, a knit polo and a striped oxford shirt - a very Drake’s outfit, actually. The wholesale manager of the English brand opens up about navigating your shower when practically blind, cycling to work, and having dinner with friends wearing nice clothes.

Hi Lucas, thanks for welcoming us today! Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Lucas Nicholson. I’m 29. I work at Drake’s. I live in Putney. I run the retail and am the U.K and EU sales manager for Drake’s. I’ve worked with them for just over a year.

What did you do before joining Drake’s?

I’ve done a couple of different things. When I graduated university, I started a production company with my girlfriend at the time. We were doing video production for brands like Paul Smith or Ben Sherman. The company is still going, she still runs it, but I don’t have much to do with it in the day-to-day. All the while, I was also working in menswear: at Paul Smith, then at a small brand called E. Tautz, then I moved over to Drake’s.

How would you describe Drake’s to someone that doesn’t know the brand?

Drake’s is kind of any metropolitan man’s uniform. If you wore Drake’s, you could go to any major city in the world and never feel out of place. Everything that you can buy there, from the knitwear and cords to a pair of chinos and a blazer, is like an elevated version of how standard men dress. It fits a little bit better, the cloths are a little bit nicer, and you just feel comfortable in it. I never feel underdressed, or I never feel overdressed when I wear Drake’s. And there is a good tongue-in-cheek personality in it. It’s fun.

What is your day-to-day job there?

My main goal is to make sure the store is going fine, that we have enough sales, and that the customer service is great in Clifford Street. In East London, we have another store, a factory store, so I make sure that everything is going well there too. With the wholesale side, it’s kind of a bit newer to me, my job is to find stores that we’re not in, servicing stores that we are in, visiting stores, making sure everything is going okay, doing trunk shows… I spend a lot of time on Instagram looking at stores in places that I don’t really know about, talking to them, and seeing if they want to stock Drake’s. There are two categories of stores that carry Drake’s: the people that see us as “old Drake’s” and carry ties, pocket squares, accessories, and we’ve got a series of customers that buy into the shirts, the jackets, the trousers, etc.

Let’s talk about your routine. What do you do in the morning?

I wake up at about 6. Lenny, my dog, is the alarm. He jumps on the bed and pushes me to wake up. I get up, I put on a cup of coffee and I take him out. We go around the block and then I’ll come back, I’ll have a shower and probably a shave. I don’t shave everyday, because I’m not very hairy. I’ll shave maybe twice a week. Then, I’ll check out some emails. I’m very routine-based. The order in which I wash is a routine, I’d never change it: always wash my hair, then my face, then my body. I figure it makes sense to wash from the head down, right?

What products do you use?

I don’t use lots of products: I’m quite low key. I’ve started using moisturiser recently. I like the Horace deodorant, especially because it’s saving my shirts - and I wear a lot of shirts! The Horace shampoo smells good - before that, I had this mix match of ugly brands because I couldn’t bear going to Aesop and spend like £40 for shampoo. I like to wash myself and smell nice, but I never cared enough to spend big amounts of money for products. I think Horace is a good middle ground: it looks great, it’s not super expensive, and it’s good value. I’ve been really happy with it! I like the face scrub and shower gel too. I like the fact that the bottles are of different colours because I’m practically blind once I take my glasses off! It’s a little thing, but it makes quite a big difference!

Speaking of shampoo, you wear your hair short. How often do you get a cut?

I got a cut this morning, as a matter of fact! I usually get a short cut and then let it grow out! I don’t regularly have haircuts - it’s more like every two or three months. My hair is quite curly so it will explode on the sides at some point, and I’ll decide to cut it. I go to a little barber down the road. I was there at 8:55, and got out at 9:15. I went to a really nice hairdresser in Mayfair before, you pay £45 for a haircut, it’s a really nice environment but it’s not a good enough haircut, honestly. There, it’s £12, and it’s just as good a haircut.

What else is in your morning routine?

I always try to have a little bit of downtime in the morning. I’ll have coffee with my fiancée, have a chat. I’ll get dressed and then I’ll normally cycle to work. I’ve got two bikes, depending on how I feel in the morning: I have a road bike, and I have an electric bike. The electric one has been heavily leaned on in the last couple of days. It’s way easier! It’s about half an hour to work if I go to Clifford Street, and a bit longer if I go to Haberdasher Street.

At what time do you arrive at the shop?

Normally, I’ll leave here at 8. I get there at 8:30. I’ll take my hair product with me because I wear a helmet when cycling so I’ll style my hair when I get there! I get the till ready, I just make sure the shop is tidy and everything is ready.. If Ben’s here, we’ll do it together, if he’s not, I have to do it all. I’ll make a to do list for the day, and then everyone will come in for 9:30.

As you’re both taking care of the shop and wholesale activities, how do you balance these two things?

My job was store manager but recently, it’s been doing more wholesale, in the UK and European market. We are working on a more temporary project in Paris, which I am heavily involved in. Ben takes care of the day-to-day, my job is to manage things on a more strategic level, working with the marketing and merchandising team, making sure that the products get in in time… My time is divided between the shop floor and an office. I love being on the shop floor and don’t spend as much time there as I’d like: we have an office upstairs, where I spend quite a lot of time too.

Looks like you travel a lot for work as well.

Yeah. Over the last month, I was in Germany for two days, Switzerland for two days, Rome for a day, and then Paris for like a week.... With the shop in Paris, I’ll be there at least a weekend a month to bring extra stock, hold events and build a community for our French customers! I need one of these travel kits! Would save me 5 minutes at the airport, which is nice.

Do you find time to do sports?

Mainly cycling. Cycling in London is dangerous: it’s a bit of an extreme sport! Not just commuting, but also proper cycling. I ride my bike a lot! I rarely get the time to do sports. In the summer, I wanted to play tennis again because I played a lot of it when I was younger, but finding someone to play tennis with on a day off when it’s not the weekend is… not easy! I try to run, but I hate it. This winter, I’ll run more. Cycling is just a breeze: I’ll go out, spend the whole day cycling... Running is different. There’s no freewheeling: if you stop, then you just stop. One of the guys in the store lives around the corner, so we’ll go cycling together if we have a day off. We’re going to try running back from work and see how it goes.

You’re quite famous on Instagram. Your page feels more like a blog than a classic “fashion influencer” account. How did you start it?

I’ve always worked in menswear, even when I had the production company. I wanted to have a profile that was separate from my family and old friends - something more work appropriate. I don’t really have lots of clothes so posting outfits wouldn’t be interesting: everyone would get bored of seeing the same pants and couple of jumpers. I decided to create something that would give me a sort of presence in the menswear round: I started to remove the context from old pictures and add my own context. The idea is that the pictures are good and there is some kind of cultural relevance in the captions! I try to have fun, because I can’t take clothes that seriously, I know how ridiculous it is to care about them so much!

Do you manage to switch off from work easily? You have quite an impressive bar here, not sure if it helps…

Yeah, that helps! It’s a bit of a forced way to switch off. I really enjoy what I do: I love the brand, I’ve loved it for a long time, so I’m thankful. Michael Hill, the owner, is really supportive, and we all want to build something great. Switching off isn’t always easy, even if I’m quite good at my holidays! My parents live in Spain so I go visit them a lot, even if it’s only for two or three days. I was just in Biarritz for a bit of camping in front of the beach with no power, which was good. At work, we have a good team: Drake’s takes us out for dinner a lot, it’s really nice. If you like food and drink, it’s a great company to work with!

I’ve seen a few Drake’s dinners being heavily documented on Instagram! Why do you think it is so important in Drake’s brand culture?

It’s a lifestyle thing. The clothes are part of a bigger picture. We’re a bunch of guys, wearing nice clothes. We care, but clothes are not the most important things! We’re just going out for dinner, have a really good time, and then people enjoy it. It’s a positive message: it’s a bunch of well-dressed guys spending good time together!