Introduction
Emma Hill is a British accessories and fashion designer whose career developed across Burberry, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, Gap and Marc Jacobs. At Marc Jacobs she designed the Stella bag, establishing the combination of functional pockets, boxy construction and commercial clarity that would recur in her later work.
Mulberry announced Hill as creative director in December 2007, and she began in February 2008 with authority over leather goods, ready-to-wear, image and retail. Her studio launched the Alexa and Lily in 2010, the Del Rey in 2012 and the Willow in 2013, while runway shows at Claridge’s placed the products inside elaborate versions of British seaside, school and country imagery. Her resignation was announced in June 2013; Spring/Summer 2014, shown that September, was her final designed collection.
Hill later co-founded Hill & Friends with Georgia Fendley in 2015. The independent label retained her focus on accessible leather goods, distinctive locks and direct retail theatre, including immediate product availability and presentation formats built around character rather than corporate formality.
Design ethos
Hill treats accessories as the organising centre of a wider fashion image. A bag begins with recognisable function—satchel, shoulder bag, tote or briefcase—then gains character through scale, lock design, naming and the way it is carried. At Mulberry, individual objects were generally developed by the studio under her direction rather than presented as solitary sketches by one author.
Ready-to-wear, casting and set design were calibrated around those products. Subtle garment hardware allowed the Postman’s Lock to remain visible, while tweed, floral print, outerwear and slightly dishevelled styling made the bags part of a lived narrative. Tim Walker, Edward Enninful, Ronnie Cooke Newhouse and recurring set designers extended that logic from runway to campaign.
Hill & Friends translated the same attention to product personality into smiling closures, compact shapes and a direct-to-consumer rhythm. Across both houses, commercial accessibility and humour are built into construction rather than applied as a slogan.
Disclaimer
Career history
2017
By February 2017, Emma Hill was overseeing seasonal product and broader creative direction for Il Bisonte as Consultant Creative Director. The work ran alongside Hill & Friends and continued beyond its initial seasonal projects.
2015
Emma Hill directed Hill & Friends from its 2015 launch until the company entered administration and its brand assets were sold in 2022. Pittards retained her as a consultant after the August acquisition, ending the founder-led phase of the business.
2015
Emma Hill and Georgia Fendley launched Hill & Friends in 2015, returning Hill to independent accessories design after Mulberry. The label made its public debut at London Fashion Week that September with handbags at its centre.
2013
Hill’s resignation was announced on 10 June 2013 after disagreement over the company’s pricing direction. Spring/Summer 2014, shown on 15 September, was her final designed collection and marks the last material boundary of her authorship.
2013
Mulberry said on 10 June 2013 that Emma Hill would leave after five years as Creative Director. She completed the Spring/Summer 2014 collection shown that September before her time with the house ended later in the autumn.
2008
Mulberry named Emma Hill Creative Director on 6 December 2007, with her first complete collection appearing for Spring/Summer 2009. During her six years there, handbags and accessories became central to the house’s international growth.
2007
From 2007, Emma Hill maintained a sustained freelance accessories practice with Reiss that continued into 2010. The work overlapped the first years of her Mulberry directorship.
2007
During 2007–08, Emma Hill consulted on accessories for Halston while juggling several freelance projects. The assignment belonged to the transitional period immediately before she took creative direction of Mulberry.
2006
Chloé engaged Emma Hill as an accessories consultant in August 2006, with her work feeding into subsequent seasonal collections. The assignment was brief and came before Mulberry.
2002
Gap hired Emma Hill in 2002 as Vice President for adult accessories design, putting her across product for a large international retailer. She left in October 2005 and returned to consultancy work in European fashion.
2000
In 2000, Emma Hill moved to Marc Jacobs in New York to work on accessories across the main line and Marc by Marc Jacobs. Gap recruited her two years later for a senior accessories position.
1997
Emma Hill entered Marks & Spencer in 1997, working across accessories and trend development. It was part of the late-1990s bridge between her early London experience and senior accessories work in the United States.
1994
From 1994 to 1997, Emma Hill designed accessories for Liz Claiborne. The experience broadened her commercial product work before a later period at Marks & Spencer.
1992
Emma Hill worked on accessories at Burberry from 1992 to 1994, beginning a career that would become closely associated with bags and leather goods. She then moved to Liz Claiborne.
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