Ozwald Boateng

Ozwald Boateng
Born	(1960-11-28) November 28, 1960 London
Nationality	British
Label	Ozwald Boateng

Ozwald Boateng OBE is a fashion designer. He was born in North London in the late 1960s. While studying computing at Southwark College, he was introduced to cutting and designing clothes by his then girlfriend. With the help of his mother, who was an excellent seamstress, he started selling his mother's designs to passersby along Portobello Road. At age 23, disillusioned with a mundane job in IT, he set up his own full-time. He began making bespoke suits in 1990 and is widely credited with introducing Savile Row tailoring to a new generation. Boateng's many clients include Will Smith, Laurence Fishburne, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Russell Crowe, Keanu Reeves, and Mick Jagger.

Ozwald Boateng

Born in London in the late 1960s, Ozwald Boateng, the first tailor to stage a catwalk show in Paris, is credited with revolutionizing the most famous street in the world for men’s tailoring. Boateng, who sees himself as both a tailor and a designer, coined the term bespoke couturier. He rewrote established perceptions of the row by redefining the cut of the traditional suit and fusing those expert cutting skills with colour to enhance the experience for the wearer. This more contemporary approach to menswear design has helped to forge a new appreciation for Savile Row and draw in a younger demographic. Boateng's love of texture in the materials he uses offers an understated form of uniqueness and elegance in an essentially classical tailoring scene.

Boateng began tailoring at the age of 16. His entirely self-taught skills led him to set up a design studio on London’s Portobello Road at age 23. It was from here that his reputation as a British tailor grew. Inspired and guided by renowned tailor Tommy Nutter, Boateng's dream of working on Savile Row flourished. In 1994 he realised that dream with the opening of his store on Vigo Street, at the end of Savile Row.

Entering Savile Row

May 2002 saw the launch of Boateng’s spectacular company headquarters in Savile Row. To celebrate this, along with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, Boateng closed down Savile Row for a breathtaking event. Over 100 metres of marquee erected down the middle of the street and 1500 stellar guests were treated to a spectacular fashion show. The groundbreaking event was covered by the media around the globe and was feted as one of the most impressive of the year. Mayor Ken Livingstone credited Boateng with making a vital contribution to the promotion of creative talents in the capital. This was the first time Savile Row has been shut down since the The Beatles performed their last public concert on the roof of their offices in the late 1960s. To this day, Boateng remains one of the most vocal and passionate supporters of Savile Row tailoring, and this passion lies at the heart of his work.

In addition to his much sought-after bespoke service, for which he continually updates his extensive range of fabrics and silk linings, Boateng also produces two ready-to-wear collections a year, which are sold internationally and through his flagship store and are shown to critical acclaim each season during the Menswear Collections in Milan.

Through his attention to cut, detail, sharp tailoring, and innovative use of colour, Boateng has received many awards and appointments in the last decade. In 2002 he was invited by the Bundes President of Germany to put on a fashion show in aid of charity, at his residence in Berlin, the Schloss Bellvue. Media coverage of the event was nationwide.

Ozwald Boateng and Givenchy

The President of LVMH Bernard Arnault handpicked Ozwald in 2003 and appointed him as Creative Director of Menswear at the celebrated French Fashion house Givenchy – one of the jewels in the LVMH crown, to bring his unique brand of Savile row tradition and contemporary design to this French menswear brand. His first hugely successful collection for this historic Parisian house was shown in July 2004 in Paris, at Hotel de Ville. Boateng parted with Givenchy after the Spring 2007 collection.

V & A

In 2005 Ozwald celebrated 20 years at the forefront of British Tailoring and was honoured with a major retrospective event at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2006 Ozwald Boateng was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire), by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 2006 for his contributions to the tailoring industry.

In 2007 Ozwald was appointed to the Mayor of London Skills and Employment Board, which examines and promotes the kind of skills London needs to remain competitive globally. The board, who’s other members are drawn from business and other key sectors, set the strategy for skills learning in London and work closely with the London Learning and Skills Council.

In the same year he was also recognised by the world economic forum as a young global leader. The Forum of Young Global Leaders is a unique, multi-stakeholder community of the world’s most extraordinary leaders below 40 who are ready to dedicate a part of their time and energy to jointly work towards a better future. This honour is bestowed by the World Economic Forum each year to recognize the most distinguished 250 exceptional individuals, drawn from every region in the world and from a myriad of disciplines and sectors. This honour sees him travelling around the world to meet with this powerful international community which can dramatically impact the global future and affect change by developing innovative global strategies that can be translated into decisions and actions necessary to be taken today.

Annual African Union Summit

Ozwald was also invited by His Excellency President of the Republic of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor on July 2, 2007, to design and orchestrate a show in which some of the most prominent individuals of African decent presented what could be done if they stood together. The historic state banquet at the 9th Annual African Union Summit in 2007, held in Accra, Ghana, coincided with 200 years since the cessation of the transatlantic slave trade and 50 years of independence for Ghana. The banquet was attended by the presidents and representatives of the 53 African nations, plus dignitaries from across the globe representing and announcing union between those on the continent and the African Diaspora. The event was supported by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Ambassador Andrew Young, Dr Khalid AL – Monsour, Herbie Hancock, Mosdef, Jamie Foxx, Isaiah Washington and Chris Tucker.

Most recently he has also been appointed as an advisor to the Ashanti King to advise him on all matters concerning the African Diaspora.

REACH panel

In 2008, Ozwald Boateng has been appointed to the REACH committee as part of an independent panel to identify and recruit national role models who will work to help raise aspirations of black boys. The programme is one part of a package of measures aimed at countering a culture of low aspirations and low attainment amongst some black boys and young black men. The actions are in response to the independent REACH report that highlighted the barriers that are preventing some black boys from fulfilling their full potential. The group said that if more black boys and men overcame these barriers, it could benefit the economy by a staggering £24billion over the next 50 years.

Coutts

Ozwald’s distinctive style and unique designs have caught the attention of many companies, who have sought collaborations with him on creative projects. In 2004, Coutts Bank (which is often referred to as the Queens Bank) approached Ozwald to design a new Super-Premium credit card, aimed at providing Coutts Bank clients with a with a service that is unsurpassed. Ozwald designed the new Coutts ‘World Credit Card’ for UK’s most prestigious bank, in his trademark imperial purple communicating a new modernity and supreme elegance, in tune with characteristics at the heart of the unique Coutts World. Sales went up 16% within 1 year of Ozwald designing the card equalling a profit contribution of £468 million.

Virgin Atlantic

In 2004, Ozwald Boateng was called upon by close friend and client, Sir Richard Branson, to design new amenity kits for Virgin Atlantic Upper Class. They are lauded as the most stylish first class kits available to travellers on any airline. The design was so successful that it increased pick rate fivefold.

Fragrance

Adding to his already extensive design portfolio of bespoke, made to measure, ready to wear, diffusion line and accessories, Ozwald Boateng has also launched a unique, totally original concept in fragrance for women. Parfum Bespoke comprises two different vials of fragrance within an elongate, jewel-like bottle. Women have the option of wearing each of these fragrances separately, or of adopting a “bespoke” approach: layering and mixing the two synergistic fragrances together in differing proportions, to create an infinite variety of perfumes to suit their mood and personality this unique fragrance concept was developed with the whole essence of “bespoke” in mind.

House of Boateng

On June 22, 2006, the Sundance Channel and Reveille LLC released an eight part documentary series called ‘House of Boateng’ tracking the journey of Ozwald Boateng, as he embarks on the expansion of his brand in the United States. The series gives an insight into the legal, financial and creative aspects of the business as well as going behind the scenes as he outfits celebrities for film and gala events, directs his own short films and juggles his demanding trans-continental schedule with his family obligations to his wife and two young children. The series, which was produced by Robert Redford and Ben Silverman and created by Varon Bonicos and Todd Cohen, was shown throughout America to great acclaim. Due to the series success, Ozwald has been approached to do a second series and a feature length film.

Short films

Ozwald’s passion and appreciation for film and cinematography has inspired him to write and direct short films, reflecting, periods of times in his life as well as the inspirations behind some of his collections and designs. To date Ozwald has written and directed over 10 short films, with his latest film ‘No Boundaries’ written and produced by Varon Bonicos, selected to premiere at the 2006 Tremblant film festival, Montreal, Canada received the runner up award in the short film category . The film was shot on location Guilin district of China and is a four minute masterpiece of cinema, astounding for its exquisite images and poignant sequences featuring over 800 soldiers from the Chinese army engaged in a masterfully choreographed fight. He also presented his first collection for Givenchy at a spectacular show in Paris, which opened the show with his first animation – a Japanese, manga-style piece that he directed. The animation told the story of how he came to be appointed as Creative Director of Givenchy Menswear, and the journey he planned to take the brand on. Ozwald’s passion and skill for film making counts some of Hollywood’s top directors as fans, leading to many offer fors Ozwald to direct feature films.

Ozwald has always been inspired by legendary Fashion Icon and businessman Giorgio Armani and views Armani as the benchmark of how he would like to model his career. He has been able to develop a fantastic friendship with Armani, which is very exciting and regularly attends his couture shows as a special guest. Ozwald is continually striving to reach that benchmark and marks the beginning of that journey with the launch of his new headquarters and flagship store on Savile Row.

Flagship store

His long-term dream of merging his head quarters and his flag ship store with a prominent Savile Row Store site, was finally realised this year, heralding the commencement of a period of major expansion for his eponymous brand. New stand-alone stores, in London, Moscow and Dubai, the US and the Middle East are planned in the next 3 years, taking the Ozwald Boateng collections and luxury experience to an ever-increasing audience. Ozwald is also keen to develop an Interiors line, encompassing his unique use of design and colour as witnessed in his head office and store. This ability to gentrify colour in his clothing has been the focus of numerous design-led features as demand for his unique style in interior design increases.

Ozwald’s ready-to-wear main-line collections are now sold in some of the most prestigious department stores, including Selfridges’ stores throughout the UK and Harvey Nichols in Dubai as well as many of the top independent clothing stores across Europe and America. In his London flagship and Bespoke Headquarters on Savile Row, the distinctive Ozwald Boateng experience is expressed in every detail of presentation and service. Many international business leaders, celebrities and former heads of state come to Ozwald Boateng for Bespoke tailoring of the highest quality.

Season upon season, Ozwald Boateng has successfully captured the imagination of both the media and his ever expanding client base. By combining the highest standards of execution with a fresh, vibrant design philosophy, Ozwald Boateng has been largely responsible for the increased interest in men’s fashion and in keeping tailoring current through his design development.

Many international business leaders, celebrities and former heads of state come to Ozwald Boateng for Bespoke tailoring of the highest quality. His creations have been embraced by city lawyers and bankers, politicians, sportsmen and Hollywood’s elite.

Awards

Year	Awarded as:	Awarded by:
1996	Best Male Designer	Trophees de la Mode, Paris
2000	Top Menswear Designer	British Fashion Awards
2002	Best Male Designer	Cologne Fashion Awards
2006	OBE for services to the clothing industry	Order of the British Empire
2006	2nd Runner up in the short film category	Tremblant Film Festival, Montreal Canada
2008	Fashion Personality of the year	Mayfair Times Award

List of prominent clientele

Alain Lorenzo, Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt, Billy Zane, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock, David Arquette, Damon Buffini, Daniel Day Lewis, David Bowie, Djimon Hounsou, Don Cheadle, Forest Whitaker, Gerard Butler, Gavin Rosdale, George Michael, Herbie Hancock, Hugh Hackman, Jamie Foxx, James Greenfield, Joel Silver, Joseph Fiennes, Jason Statham, Rev Jesse Jackson, Jonathan Ross, Joseph Fiennes, Jude Law, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Lenny Kravitz, Lex Fenwick, Lennox Lewis, Sir Mick Jagger, Matt Damon, Michael Essien, Matthew Freud, Reginald "Stylistocrat" Carson, Nasir Jones, Nick Moran, Paul Bettany, Pierce Brosnan, Richard Branson, Russell Crowe, Ray Winstone, Robbie Williams, Raving with the dave, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Seal, Usher, Wesley Snipes, Will Smith, Yves Carcelle, Alan Yau, Grant Morrison,Obed K. Baah,Isaac Boateng(currently in Brooklyn New York)

Wardrobe design for film

Ozwald Boateng’s extensive work for film and television includes such titles as Hannibal, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Tomorrow Never Dies, Sex and the City, Ugly Betty, Eastern Promises, Gangster Number One, Alfie, Assault on Precinct 13, The Matrix, Miami Vice, Oceans 13, and Rush Hour 3.

Quotes about Boateng

“The British designer with a penchant for firsts has just made fashion History in France”

His extrovert persona and flamboyant tailoring have drawn a stellar list of clients that includes Samuel L Jackson, Daniel Day Lewis and Russell Crowe”

“There’s no doubt Ozwald Boateng is among British menswear’s most vociferous voices”

“He was one of the first new breed of menswear designers to invade the row and has helped reinvent the place”

“When you wear an Ozwald Boateng suit you become a statesman of cool” (—Laurence Fishburne)

“It’s Ozwald Boateng’s self belief, as well as his consummate skill as a Savile Row tailor that has got him where he is today. His instinctive approach to creativity and passion for the perfect cut will take him wherever he wants to go”

“Boateng 39 is a phenomenon”

“The designer who ironically has always been acknowledged as one of the new breed of tailors spearheading the revived interest in Savile Row has not only moved onto the row for the first time, but also has the best retail site on the strip”

“Move over Tom Ford, Ozwald Boateng sets his sights on becoming a global men’s wear luxury brand”

“The store evokes exclusivity and sophistication, more like an art gallery than a touch and try fashion store”

References

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