1. Giles Deacon launched his first collection for GILES at the 2004 London Fashion Week and was named "Best New Designer" at the British Fashion Awards.
59 Facts About Giles Deacon
1. 2.
Giles Deacon's designs have been met with critical acclaim and have sparked a renewed interest in London fashion.
3.
Giles Deacon was creative director of French fashion house Ungaro from April 2010 until September 2011.
4.
Giles Deacon became known for his multiple collaborations, illustrations and ink drawings.
5.
Giles Deacon was appointed design director of luxury leather goods brand Aspinal of London in 2018, following a successful collaboration.
6.
Giles Deacon moved into interior design in 2020, after teaming up with luxury linens brand Peter Reed and Matches Fashion.
7.
Giles Deacon has since collaborated with British design company Sanderson on a range of wallpaper and fabrics.
8.
Giles Deacon was born in Darlington, County Durham, but grew up near Ullswater in the Lake District.
9.
Giles Deacon is the youngest child of David, an agricultural salesman, and Judith, a housewife.
10.
Giles Deacon attended Barnard Castle School in County Durham which he credits with instilling in him "the mindset of aesthetics".
11.
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" Giles Deacon initially wanted to become a marine biologist, but he failed his chemistry A-level.
12.
Giles Deacon later joined Harrogate College of Arts, where he completed an art foundation course.
13.
Giles Deacon chose to travel and gain experiences at fashion houses, before starting his own label.
14.
Giles Deacon returned to London in 1994, where he began freelancing and taking on various jobs, including illustration work and making television props.
15.
Grand asked Giles Deacon to help her with "reinvigorating" Italian luxury goods house, Bottega Veneta, and he was hired to work for the company, becoming the head designer and debuting an acclaimed collection in 2001.
16.
Giles Deacon was dismissed in 2001 when the Gucci group bought the company and terminated his contract, so they could hire German designer, Tomas Maier.
17.
Giles Deacon was forced to leave Gucci after one season when he became ill from an infected salivary gland.
18.
Once he had recovered, Deacon decided to take out a loan to start his own label and he launched GILES in 2003.
19.
Giles Deacon 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.
20.
Giles Deacon counted Thandiwe Newton, Princess Beatrice and Scarlett Johansson among his clients.
21.
In 2009, Giles Deacon stated that since he launched his label, he has seen the turnover double every year and sales increased during the 2008 recession.
22.
Giles Deacon moved his studio to The Old Truman Brewery in East London in 2009, where he created his couture pieces, while the ready-to-wear collection was made in Italy.
23.
Giles Deacon became the fifth designer to be hired by the house since it was sold to entrepreneur Asim Abdullah in 2005.
24.
On 19 September 2010, Giles Deacon made a return to London Fashion Week, after spending two years showing his collection in Paris.
25.
Giles Deacon showed his first collection for Ungaro in October 2010.
26.
Vogue previewed the new collection, which was designed by Giles Deacon, styled by Grand and accessorised by Katie Hillier and Stephen Jones, on their website.
27.
From June 2011, Giles Deacon took part in the Channel 4 entertainment series, New Look Style the Nation.
28.
Giles Deacon previously appeared on Britain's Next Top Model as a judge.
29.
In 2013, Giles Deacon presented the first ever fashion exhibition at the William Morris Gallery in London.
30.
Giles Deacon decided to put his ready-to-wear line on hiatus, after showing his last collection in 2015, in order to focus on couture.
31.
Giles Deacon told Steff Yotka of Vogue that he had always wanted to create more couture pieces, and that he chose to concentrate on high end fashion after realising that the pieces he and his team had produced were selling well.
32.
Giles Deacon makes ready-to-wear pieces for private clients and has become known for his illustrations and ink drawings.
33.
Giles Deacon designed the wedding dress of Pippa Middleton, sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales, in May 2017.
34.
The collection enabled Giles Deacon to reach new customers outside of fashion and he began receiving bespoke commission requests.
35.
Giles Deacon later moved to a studio situated on the roof of a warehouse in Dalston, where he has a team of five people working with him.
36.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Giles Deacon created a capsule collection of "wonky WFA outfits".
37.
Giles Deacon's collection reflected that with comfortable and adaptable "short suits, loose dresses and trousers".
38.
Giles Deacon designed the costumes for choreographer Kyle Abraham's Love Letter, which had its world premiere at the Fall Fashion Gala.
39.
Giles Deacon continued his foray into interiors with the Sanderson x Giles Deacon collection in collaboration with British design company Sanderson.
40.
Giles Deacon has been known to challenge the traditional ideas of womenswear and often uses wild prints and pop culture references in his designs.
41.
Giles Deacon said, "My dresses should be worn by young, cool girls just as much as by 55 to 60-year-old women".
42.
At the 2008 London Fashion Week, Giles Deacon presented a collection with a futuristic theme based on the 1980s arcade game Pac-Man.
43.
Susannah Frankel of The Independent has said that Giles Deacon's collections are "a much-needed injection of grand-scale glamour".
44.
Giles Deacon has worked on many collaborations with companies including Sky, Converse and Evoke, with whom he created his first jewellery collection.
45.
Giles Deacon was then appointed to design for the classic British tailoring label, Daks.
46.
Giles Deacon showed his first and second collections for the brand in 2007 and his third in 2008.
47.
Giles Deacon's best known collaboration has been with the High Street fashion chain New Look.
48.
The collection called Gold by Giles Deacon began in March 2007.
49.
Giles Deacon collaborated with Cadbury on a limited edition collection for their Dairy Milk Caramel Nibbles.
50.
Giles Deacon created a strapless white tulip dress with ruffles and a chocolate polka-dot print, complete with a pussy-bow neck tie for the Caramel Bunny character.
51.
In late 2015, Giles Deacon designed a womenswear collection for Debenhams.
52.
Since 2018, Giles Deacon has collaborated with the luxury leather goods and accessories brand Aspinal of London.
53.
In 2024, Giles Deacon worked with ceramics company 1882 Ltd to create The Walla Crag Venus bone china figurine.
54.
Giles Deacon hand painted the piece, which was chosen by fellow designer Patrick Grant for The Guardian's "Design highlights 2024".
55.
In 2004, Giles Deacon was named Best New Designer at the British Fashion Awards and in the following year he was given the Young Designer Award at Elle magazine's Style Awards.
56.
Giles Deacon was named Best British Designer at the 2007 Elle Style Awards.
57.
Two years later, Giles Deacon won the French ANDAM Fashion Award's Grand Prix, becoming the second consecutive British designer to win the award following Gareth Pugh's win in 2008.
58.
Giles Deacon has been in a relationship with actress Gwendoline Christie since 2013, after meeting through mutual friends.
59.
Giles Deacon created her wardrobe for her role as Lucifer in The Sandman, as well as two dresses that she wore onstage during a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.