Ozwald Boateng, 'A Man's Story'

Thursday the 23rd of February I was lucky enough to be invited to a special preview showing of Ozwalds Boatengs film 'A Man's Story' at London College of Fashion, which was followed by a Q&A with the man him self.

After a long day spent travelling around London to do fittings for a few of my clients I was excited to get to LCF in the evening for a nice sit down, some complimentary drinks and popcorn and the intriguing and inspiring story of the life of one of the most influential tailors/designers, not to mention one of my personal hero's.

For those of you who don't know who Ozwald Boateng is, he is a Savile Row tailor is part of the Renaissance and new bespoke movement, taking the traditional British tailoring craft and making it cutting edge and contemporary.  At the age of 28 he was the youngest and first first black man to have a prestigious Savile Row address.  In 2004 he was appointed as creative director of menswear at Givenchy, bridging the gap between Bespoke Tailoring and Couture Fashion design. Being British with an African heritage gives him this wonderful mix of craft and culture, something that I admire most about his garments is his beautiful attention and rock'of'eye for the cut and his amazing colour pallets.

Tailor to the Hollywood elite Ozwald Boateng started making suits at the age of 16 on his mothers old sewing machine and made a business that went from strength to strength going from a living/working studio in Portobello Road and being the first tailor to show a catwalk collection at a Paris fashion week to having his own Savile Row tailoring house and being a global fashion name.

'A Man's Story' is a documentary film about his journey through the fashion industry and the ups and downs that has lead to his success.  Director and film maker Varon Bonicos follow and film Ozwald over 12 years capturing ever part of his personal and professional life. 


The man has such an energy, charisma and passion it is hard not to be captivated by him and this film is a great insight into the man behind the cloths.  You can feel the love and passion of what he does in this film, for example the way he gets an energetic buzz about him and will dance about when he is working and creating, which reminds me of how I feel when I do some great work or have a great idea and it makes my adrenaline flow and I cant keep still. 

What I found most interesting about this film is that Ozwald bares all and is very open about the struggle and sacrifices he had to make to get to where he is today.  On the face of it Ozwald comes across as this invincible and confident force of nature, but it was inspiring to see that it wasn't all smooth sailing and that his journey included some low points like divorce, financial troubles and even a whole collection being stolen along the way.  But it was nothing that he could not over come with a lot of hard work and drive, which as someone who is one of my role models it truly inspiring and gave me confidence in that also being a Bespoke tailor that anything is possible.

I would like to thank Ozwald boateng as it was after seeing him and his work on a TV documentary that he made a couple of years ago call 'Why style Matters' it inspired me to be a Bespoke Tailor/design in the first place.  So it was an honour to be able to be invited to this special screen along with the Q&A and listen to him talk about the film.  I actual met Mr Ozwald Boateng late last year as I was passing his store and he stopped me and complimented me on my style which was probably one of the best accolades I have had so far.


While he was there he also gave as details about a design competition.  Please go and vote for my work on 'A Man's Story' Facebook page. You can see and vote for my designs by following these links and liking the page, then just click 'vote' on my designs so hopefully I have a chance to go and spend some time at the Ozwald Boateng studio.


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