Giles Deacon has designed for Jean Charles De Castelbajac, Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren
His design studio is the Rochelle School in East London where Katie Hillier, Luella Bartley, Hazel Robinson and his other fashion friends work
In 2007 he was named British Designer of the Year
He used to date Beth Orton
He’s a brilliant illustrator - having been published in Interview, The Face, Pop, i-D. Obviously his print designs benefit too
Giles Deacon’s appearance in the spotlight at London’s autumn/winter 2004 shows coincided with a boom in British fashion. He had Eva Herzigova, Karen Elson, Nadja Auermann, Anouk Lepere and Erin O’Connor on the catwalk and his great mate Steve Mackey of Pulp was the DJ. It all started to go right for him following a meeting with his old Central Saint Martin’s classmate, ex-girlfriend and influential stylist, Katie Grand. He went with her to Bottega Veneta in 1998 (later she would style his first show).
From Cumbria, and not coming from somewhere with “mink pillow cases”, he brought edginess to the label. Only when Tom Ford arranged for Gucci to buy Bottega Veneta was Giles Deacon replaced by Tomas Maier. Instead, Ford nabbed Deacon to work with him on Gucci womenswear. No wonder Giles Deacon is credited with injecting high-octane glamour into British fashion.