25 Facts About Joe Casely-Hayford

Joseph Ephraim Casely-Hayford was a British fashion designer.

Joe Casely-Hayford was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the fashion industry, in the 2007 Birthday Honours.

In 1976 Joe Casely-Hayford met Maria Stevens at Saint Martin's School of Art.

Joe Casely-Hayford was the brother of cultural historian and director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art, Dr Gus Casely-Hayford OBE, and Peter Casely-Hayford, whose film company, Twenty Twenty has made some of the UK's most popular television programmes, such as The Choir, Brat Camp and First Dates.

Joe Casely-Hayford was son of Victor Casely-Hayford, an accountant who had trained as a barrister, and was the grandson and namesake of the eminent lawyer and statesman J E Casely Hayford, MBE, whose 1911 novel Ethiopia Unbound was one of the first novels to be published in English by a black African, greatly influencing Pan-African politics and the leading civil rights activists of its time.

Joe Casely-Hayford had two children: Charlie Casely-Hayford, a designer and stylist, and Alice Casely-Hayford, the Digital Editor of British Vogue magazine.

On 3 January 2019, Joe Casely-Hayford died aged 62, following a three-year battle with cancer.

Joe Casely-Hayford spent time in the workrooms of the celebrated Mount Street tailor Douglas Hayward before attending Saint Martin's School of Art in 1975.

Joe Casely-Hayford then completed Diana Weir's History of Art course at the ICA, where he studied European art and history.

Joe Casely-Hayford began producing collections in 1983 under the label name KIT, selling to small specialist fashion stores in London such as Demob in Beak Street, Axiom and New Masters in the King's Road, Chelsea.

Joe Casely-Hayford was nominated for Womenswear British Designer of the Year in 1989, and Innovative Designer of the Year in 1991.

Joe Casely-Hayford worked as a freelance creative director with Piero Panchetti in Italy, and wrote and styled pages for major publications including The Face, i-D, Arena Homme +, The Independent, How to Spend It and Senken Shimbun in Japan.

Joe Casely-Hayford contributed definitive pieces of work to many fashion and art related exhibitions around the globe, as well as being the subject of exhibitions himself.

Joe Casely-Hayford pieces are kept in permanent collections by the Victoria and Albert Museum, Fashion and Textile Museum in London, the Museum of London and the Museum at FIT Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

Joe Casely-Hayford produced his own brand label for men and women continuously between the mid-1980s and 2005, and showed his collections on the runway in Paris, London and Tokyo.

Joe Casely-Hayford's clientele included The Clash, Lou Reed, Liam Gallagher, Jarvis Cocker, Take That, Suede, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Michael Fassbender.

Joe Casely-Hayford designed the stage wardrobe for U2 from 1991 to 1993.

U2's Bono photographed wearing Joe Casely-Hayford was the first man to be featured on the cover of Vogue in December 1992.

Joe Casely-Hayford is featured in the book Fashion Now, which lists the 150 designers in the world considered most important to i-D, edited by Terry Jones, and published by Taschen in 2003.

Joe Casely-Hayford is included in the second edition, issued in 2005, called Fashion Now 2, and the third edition, Icons, published in 2006.

In February 2007, Joe Casely-Hayford was named in the Independent newspaper as one of "The Fabulous Fifty" most influential fashion creatives in London.

Joe Casely-Hayford worked in his own right on limited-edition collections for specialist stores in the Japanese market, which began with a capsule range in 2004 for B2nd menswear.

Joe Casely-Hayford was credited with bringing the 200-year-old house into the 21st century.

Joe Casely-Hayford was responsible for the creative direction of all the clothing throughout the development.

In June 2014, Joe Casely-Hayford was appointed a Visiting Fellow of the University of the Arts London.