With Nothing Underneath's founder Pip Durell: ‘The Meghan Markle effect? That was crazy’
Once a fashion assistant at Tatler making a measly ‘£12,000 a year’, Pip Durell is now the founder and CEO of With Nothing Underneath. Lotte Brundle meets her.
Formerly a fashion journalist at Vogue and Tatler, Pip Durell has gone on to build a fashion empire of her own — With Nothing Underneath (WNU), her luxury womenswear brand which was inspired by men’s tailoring.
The idea came to her when she was at Vogue. She was frequently wearing men’s shirts to work, due to a lack of good options for women. ‘People would always be like: “I like your shirt”… and then I decided to make a shirt, and it went from there,’ she recalls, with a cup of tea in hand in her south London office.
The business began when Pip was 27. She will be 35 this year, and it has only gone from strength to strength. Last year, WNU was named by The Sunday Times as one of the top 100 fastest growing private companies in the country. A lot of her success is down to the Meghan Markle effect, Pip thinks. ‘That was crazy. It was when she was in the Royal Family and still very popular in this country… she basically wore three of our shirts in quick succession and I think it pushed the brand on about three years because of the cash flow that she allowed.’
The first time Meghan wore a WNU shirt Pip received 700 orders. ‘I was probably doing 100 orders a year before that.’ Other celebrities followed, including Cara Delevingne, Florence Pugh and The Princess of Wales. ‘As a British brand, to have anyone in the Royal Family validate you on the kind of global scale that they do is unbelievable.’
Pip grew up in the countryside, but was always eager to move to London.
With Nothing Underneath has four stores selling luxury womenswear — three in London and one in Devon. The brand is also stocked in Harrods and Liberty.
As a child, Pip’s mother was an estate agent and her father had a catering company. Growing up in the Kent countryside, she was always desperate to escape to the big city. ‘We would go up to London maybe once a year. I think I just always thought it was a lot more exciting than Kent... the irony is, now I live in London, I'm desperate to get back to the countryside.’
Pip was set to attend the University of Bristol to study history of art, before she changed her mind. Instead she did three weeks work experience at the, now defunct, Condé Nast title Easy Living. ‘Then basically, they were like: “We've got a PA role that we think you might be good for. Do you want to interview for it?” So I did that, and got the job.’
After her role as a PA she became a fashion assistant at Tatler. ‘I can't really remember, but basically — and I don't even know if magazines still work the same way, because it's probably illegal — but everyone was on fixed term contracts to make sure that they didn't pay you very much. I'm pretty sure I was being paid £12K a year,’ she recalls. ‘Tatler was a really fun place to work, because it was pretty silly.’ Her next job was as an editorial coordinator, a role which she went on to do for Vogue straight after. ‘That was amazing. That was really high pressure, very stressful — so much learning.’
She left, returning to Tatler when she was offered the role of jewellery editor. ‘Obviously it was such an honour and so amazing to get to become an editor and have freedom and be able to make decisions. But then, to be totally honest with you, there was actually very little creative freedom, and it was all about advertisers… I wasn’t very fulfilled.’
A young Pip with her brother and father.
With Felicity Kay in 2024 celebrating their WNU collaboration.
Now WNU has four stores, three in London (Belgravia, Marylebone and Notting Hill) and one in Devon. The brand is also stocked in Liberty and Harrods. Pip lives in Battersea with her husband, who works in risk and security (‘it’s like a proper job’) and their two-year-old daughter, with another child on the way. She’s come a long way from being a teenage PA at Condé Nast.
Your aesthetic hero
I think it’s somewhere between Charlotte Rampling meets Jane Birkin meets Carolyn Bessette.
Jane Birkin at a film premiere in 1969.
A book you’ve found inspiring
Oh, so many. I think on the whole I prefer collections of books, when the story is played out over a longer space. I love Nancy Mitford and Jilly Cooper — I love the richness of the storytelling and the character evolution and the descriptions of the countryside and Britishness.
The music that you work to
We're probably more likely to work to an audiobook than music, which sounds quite weird. But I love Westlife. Westlife is probably what I'm going to put on.
An exhibition that has really impressed you
The Marie Antoinette one at the V&A Museum. It was amazing — really beautiful. I think the curation was astounding, I liked the colours, the use of storytelling — it was really first class.
A portrait of Marie Antoinette that featured in the exhibition.
What you’d take with you to a desert island
I think I would take a Jilly Cooper book.
The last podcast you listened to
I really go through phases. I love How I Grew My Brand by Piper. Fashion People, that’s another good one.
The thing that gets you up in the morning
The cry of a toddler.
The items you collect
I guess I collect antiques — but this is where my habit has actually been really well looked after by our stores. Because we have a tiny house, my husband was like: ‘You can't bring any more antiques in here,’ so I collect antique furniture and put it all around our stores.
The last thing of note that you bought for yourself
A fur coat at a vintage market in Paris.
A hotel you could go back and back to
The Bequia Beach Hotel in the Caribbean. It’s a really small island no one’s heard of and we went a few years ago.
The most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten
My husband is an incredible cook and when he cooks at home and does something like steak, that has got to be it for me.
The person that would play you in a film of your life
Oh God. I don't know. Someone annoying?
The best present you’ve ever received
Whenever we open a new store my husband gives me a gift, and for the Notting Hill store he gave me a framed print of a Slim Aarons picture, which we have up in our house.
Your favourite painting
As a genre I love the Impressionists and I think the Musee d'Orsay has the best collection. If I could own one painting maybe it would be one by a British landscape artist, like a Constable or a Turner. I think it would have to depict an English scene.
The Hay Wain by John Constable, completed in 1821.
A possession you’d never sell
Lots of things.
For more information or to shop With Nothing Underneath, see their website.
