The British-born designer selling upcycled Hermès beach towels to America’s wealthiest women

Across the street from Zitomer — the iconic Upper East Side pharmacy where you might find Annabelle Dexter-Jones picking up a prescription — the entrance to LilyEve's Madison Avenue headquarters is easy to miss. A very modest door is all that signals you've arrived. Once inside, two flights of stairs lead to yet another simple door. Then you open it, and all of the modesty falls away.

Lily Clempson is standing at the entrance, dressed in a knit jumper with striking gold earrings, her hair pulled up into a ponytail. She steps back into the showroom, a large space with charcoal walls and floor-to-ceiling shelves, neatly stacked with colourful Hermès towels. At the back of the space there’s a large work desk for her and her colleague, and at the front, rails of sharply-tailored jackets that flank a blue sofa and purple tub chair. It seems fitting that Lily’s showroom would be entirely unexpected because her story is too.

Though Lily is originally from London, it was her studies that brought her to New York — a place she was familiar with because her family had a home on Long Island where she’d spend summers. Having graduated from Parsons Design in 2019, Lily could hardly get her foot in the door when the Pandemic suddenly struck. Like many people who were struggling to find work during that turbulent time, Lily moved out to her parents’ house in East Hampton and began busying herself with craft projects.

She discovered five, old Hermès beach towels, which her mother (the radio and television presenter, Emma Forbes) had inherited, and — to her father’s horror — began cutting them up and turning them into masks. ‘They're so graphically attractive!’ she says. ‘Obviously I knew the brand, but I didn't know what an Hermès beach towel retailed at. I just thought that these were towels they never used.’ In an effort to ease her father’s shock, and put the masks to good use, she began selling them on Instagram in order to raise money for the New York Food Bank.

You could say she was in the right place at the right time because the Hamptonites totally fell for the facemasks, and within a few months she’d raised $10,000 for the food bank. Beyond needing chic masks as protection, they loved the idea of a luxury item being upcycled. ‘We were still in that phase of upcycling being new,’ says Lily, who had gathered a whole rolodex of new clientele, as well as loads of new materials.

While driving around the Hamptons delivering facemasks she’d meet customers face-to-face who were curious about her creations. ‘Nine times out of 10 they would be like: I have an Hermès beach towel,’ she says. Many of them wanted their own custom pieces fashioned from their personal towel collection. ‘[They’d] be like: I have this towel, can you make me a hat or a jacket?’

Lily, who had initially wanted to study fashion, was thrilled to start creating custom pieces. She could do the designs with ease, but wasn’t as skilled at sewing. She asked around town and, of all places, got a recommendation for a tailor from her local fish store. They told her she had to meet Michel Cantin, a tailor who lived in Springs. ‘I just assumed Michel was a woman, because Michel sounds more like a woman's name,’ says Lily. When she pulled up at Michel’s house in Springs, she did not expect to find an older French-Canadian man waiting at the door. A very ‘chic’ one, she adds. Lily joined him on his porch as he told her all about his storied career: how he once worked for a designer who sold at Bergdorf Goodman and had owned a womenswear store in East Hampton for 45 years, which he shared with his partner. ‘I just loved him immediately,’ says Lily.

They were an unlikely pair. She, a young, British-born designer with whacky ideas, and he, a 93-year-old French Canadian tailor, who has more traditional taste. But Lily saw more than just chemistry between them — she had been looking for someone she could learn from too. 'I never got that mentorship [from] someone who's had [so] much experience [and] knows a whole different side of the industry,’ she says. ‘[He] was so willing to talk me through things.’ They also challenge each other, often bickering or disagreeing, but always ultimately align.

The duo's endearing relationship spanned six years before Cantin sadly died a few months ago. Together, they expanded LilyEve's range, offering beach bags and hats made from towels as well as sharp jackets and trench coats. Standing in her slick showroom, surrounded by all their creations, neatly hanging on the rails, Lily is still slightly surprised she now has a physical space and a steady stream of clientele. Everything happened so quickly and organically that at times it all feels a bit like a dream.

Cantin used to mostly work from his house in Springs, focusing on their ‘blanket series’ — jackets made from merino wool and cashmere fabrics. Lily is often in the studio, taking appointments with clients and working on designs. Other times, she’s sourcing materials — connecting with people who have collections or reseller sites. On weekends she used to go to the Hamptons to see Cantin. She is open to new designs — as was Cantin — but the through-line is working with the Hermès brand. Not only because Lily adores the bright, graphic patterns, but because the quality is so superior. ‘They’re blankets, but we want them to feel like a jacket,’ she says.

The quality is of course part of the attraction. Most of her clients — a large percentage who are American women, from Florida, Texas and New York — know the Hermès brand and like that Clempson is reimagining it. With most luxury brands now readily available in every corner of the globe, it does tend to breed a kind of same-ness, which nobody wants when you’re dropping thousands of dollars on a piece. ‘I've always felt [that] if you're spending that amount on a garment, the last thing you want is to be walking down Madison Avenue and see five other people wearing it,’ she says. ‘Our aim is to keep it unique to the customer — offer them that experience.’ As the showroom is by-appointment only, Lily and her team (her mum works with her too) can also offer clients a one-on-one experience where they can try different items on at leisure and perhaps have something altered or custom-made.

So far, Lily has not worked with Hermès directly. ‘I'm obviously a huge fan of the brand,’ she says. ‘I’ve dabbled with other designers [but] it just didn't have the same appeal and quality.’ She works carefully with unspoken guidelines — first, authenticating the pieces, never showing the logo and ensuring she honours the fabric through the design, elevating the silk and wool scarves in imaginative ways. ‘I try to remain as respectful as possible to the brand,’ she says.

While she enjoys upcycling materials and inventing one-of-kind designs, she wouldn’t ever rule out a collaboration with Hermès if they came knocking on the door. ‘Maybe that’s in the future!’ she says with a hopeful smile.

From masks in East Hampton to a showroom on Madison Avenue, Lily has already proven she doesn't need Hermès to come knocking. But, she says, it would be nice.