story

My name is Melissa Watson Ellis. My label is Watson Ellis, and I'm a custom tailor. In New York City.

Fabric is the starting point for everything. It determines what the garment wants to be, how it wants to drape, what kind of style it wants to be.

I was born into it. I literally grew up playing in a box of scraps, of fabric, putting fabrics together and tying them around my body and making outfits.

It's really important to us at Watson Ellis, who really cover all genders and also bring the ladies into tailoring, right? Bring the ladies into wearing sneakers, bring the ladies into wearing suits. 

Fabric from the UK is really close to my heart. They're rough and they're dry, and they aren't always the softest things, but they make beautiful tailored garments.

I'm from Portland, but I have Scottish roots, so in a funny way, it does feel like this Dunk is a marriage of my own heritage. The clean lines of it.

It's not too sporty. It's not too technical. As a younger designer, I definitely wanted to try all these different shapes and silhouettes out...

...but once you make enough suits, you kind of come back to the things that really work. 

You always have to kind of pull yourself back because you want something timeless. It's all about the minutia and letting the details speak.

Creator Spotlight

Melissa Waston Ellis