The shop · since 2014

One person buys everything on the rail.

Cream and white dresses on hangers along a dark rail, afternoon light falling across them

I opened Odell in 2014 in Pryor's, the old draper's on Bridge Street. The mahogany counter came with the lease.

I buy in February and August from six labels I know, one or two of each size, and I don't reorder.

That's why the rail has numbers: a sold piece leaves its hanger empty until the next delivery.

How the shop works.

  1. 01

    Holding a piece

    Phone, email or tell me in the shop: the number and your size. It waits behind the counter with your name on the ticket until close on Saturday. If that's tomorrow, I'll keep it a week. No deposit.

  2. 02

    Your size has gone

    Most labels can send another in about ten days. I'll ring you when it's in.

  3. 03

    Alterations

    I take up hems (£12) and sleeves (£18) in the back room, usually within a week. Hems on Urajiro trousers are free.

  4. 04

    Bringing it back

    Within 28 days, with the ticket still on, for a refund or an exchange.

A heap of wound threads in faded blues, pinks and creams from the back room

The fitting room

There's one, at the back, behind a green linen curtain. Take as long as you like; I'll bring the next size to the curtain.

The window

It changes on Sunday evenings, usually around whatever came in that week.

If you ask what I'd wear it with, I'll tell you. If it doesn't suit you, I'll tell you that too. F.

Rows of undyed cotton on bobbins in a mill, out of focus
Shirts and jackets in greys, denim and navy hanging above a wooden trunk
Empty wooden hangers bunched together on a rail
Monday: the rail before a delivery.