“I’m not interested in looking young — just looking good,” Pauline Harris, 62, said on a recent Friday afternoon in July. “It means putting your best self out there. If you’re going to get dressed in the morning, why not put some effort in?”
I spotted Harris in the Marylebone district of London looking quite casual and relaxed in a lavender linen jumpsuit and some large-framed sunglasses — a simple look that was supercharged by statement accessory pieces on her neck, ears and one wrist. She was sitting on a small bench in front of a boutique called Cromford Leather Company — an atelier specializing in men’s jackets — while chatting with a friend on the highly fashionable Chiltern Street. It turned out that Harris owned the shop.
Harris, who trained as a tailor, described herself as “a maker.” “I did an apprenticeship when I was 17, but it was back in the day when we used to be punks, cutting things up and doing what you like.” Originally from Sheffield, in northern England, she spoke with a fun edge that flowed between unbothered and matter-of-fact. Harris said she had owned the shop for about a decade, though it has been in business since 1971. Although she greatly prefers making men’s wear, she has managed to put her skills to personal use as well.
“I just make my own clothes now — it’s easier,” she said, indicating her jumpsuit. “I create a pattern. And then I’ll think, Well, that’s a nice jumpsuit. And then I make it in all different fabrics.”
After navigating her punk phase and the next few waves of life, Harris eventually arrived at a day-to-day style consisting of simple clothes paired with big accessories, like a bulky necklace she found in a vintage shop in Berlin that gets a lot of questions. It’s made of resin, she said, but “people think it’s rocks.”
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