Giles Deacon

Giles David Deacon (born December 14, 1969) is a British fashion designer, Creative Director and Founder of Giles Deacon group, a fashion enterprise.

He graduated in 1992 and began collaborating on the label 'Doran Deacon' with his friend, Fi Doran as well as contributing illustrations to Dazed & Confused''.

Deacon chose to travel and gain experiences at fashion houses, before starting his own label.

During his time in Paris, Deacon was hired to work with fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, where he learned how to use a brand name commercially.

During this time, Deacon met the owner of Italian luxury goods house, Bottega Veneta, and was hired to work for the company, becoming the head designer and debuting an acclaimed collection in 2001.

Deacon was dismissed in 2001 when the Gucci group bought the company and terminated his contract, so they could hire German designer, Tomas Maier.

However, he was immediately hired by Tom Ford to assist with Gucci womenswear.

Deacon was forced to leave Gucci after one season when he became ill from an infected salivary gland.

Deacon was employed by the fashion houses Bottega Veneta and Gucci, before founding his own label, GILES, in 2003.

Once he had recovered, Deacon decided to take out a loan to start his own label and he launched GILES in 2003.

He launched his first collection for GILES at the 2004 London Fashion Week and was named "Best New Designer" at the British Fashion Awards.

Deacon's designs have been met with critical acclaim and have sparked a renewed interest in London fashion.

He launched his first collection at London Fashion Week in February 2004, styled by his friend Katie Grand, the show saw models Karen Elson, Lily Cole, Eva Herzigova and Linda Evangelista walking the catwalk.

The collection received international acclaim and began a renewed interest in London fashion.

Deacon regularly showed at London Fashion Week and the GILES collection is bought by over thirty retail stores including Barneys, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges.

Deacon counted Thandiwe Newton, Princess Beatrice and Scarlett Johansson among his clients.

Several actresses, including Cate Blanchett and Kerry Washington, have worn Deacon's dresses at red carpet events.

Deacon became the fifth designer to be hired by the house since it was sold to entrepreneur Asim Abdullah in 2005.

Having become one of the fashion industry's most fêted figures, Deacon was named British Fashion Designer of the Year in 2006 and was awarded the French ANDAM Fashion Award's Grand Prix in 2009.

In 2009, Deacon stated that since he launched his label, he has seen the turnover double every year and sales increased during the 2008 recession.

His studio is at the Truman Brewery in East London.

The designer was appointed creative director of French fashion house Ungaro in April 2010.

In April 2010, it was announced that Deacon had been appointed the creative director position with Ungaro, following the dismissal of Estrella Archs.

On 19 September 2010, Deacon made a return to London Fashion Week, after spending two years showing his collection in Paris.

Deacon showed his first collection for Ungaro in October 2010.

Vogue previewed the new collection, which was designed by Deacon, styled by Grand and accessorised by Katie Hillier and Stephen Jones, on their website.

Vogue reporter, Dolly Jones, described the collection as one of the "most hotly anticipated shows" of the week and she added "[Deacon] looks like he'll be credited with bringing the house of Ungaro back to life, at last."

Deacon retained the position until September 2011, when he and Ungaro mutually decided to end their collaboration.

From June 2011, Deacon took part in the Channel 4 entertainment series, New Look Style the Nation.

The designer joined New Look's creative director Barbara Horspool on a panel tasked with finding an "exceptional new fashion stylist" from contestants, who demonstrate good creativity and style.

Deacon joined the Paris Fashion Week in 2016.

Deacon has been known to challenge the traditional ideas of womenswear and often uses wild prints and pop culture references in his designs.

Deacon launched his first couture collection in 2016 at Paris.

Deacon was born in Darlington, County Durham, but grew up near Ullswater in the Lake District.

Deacon is the youngest child of David, an agricultural salesman, and Judith, a housewife.

He has one older sister.

He attended Barnard Castle School in County Durham which he credits with instilling in him "the mindset of aesthetics".

Alongside schoolmate and friend Glenn Hugill, now a major television executive, he pursued interests in music and film as "portal to other things that we didn't really know about" Deacon initially wanted to become a marine biologist, but he failed his chemistry A-level.

He later joined Harrogate College of Arts, where he completed an art foundation course.

After completing his course he went on to study at Central St Martins and was in the same class as fashion designers Alexander McQueen and Luella Bartley.