Ozwald Boateng

Sitter in 4 portraits
The British-Ghanaian fashion designer Boateng specialises in bespoke tailoring for men. Self-taught, he opened his first shop on London's Vigo Street in 1995 and won the Best Male Designer Award at the Trophées de la Mode in Paris in 1996. In 2003, he was the first black designer to become Creative Director of Menswear at Givenchy, where he worked for three and a half years before returning to his own label. He was awarded an OBE in 2006 for his services to the clothing industry, and in 2007 he opened a new flagship store on Savile Row, designed by Sir David Adjaye. His trademark touches, including vivid colours and tapered trousers, have won him famous clients such as Jamie Foxx, Richard Branson and Jude Law. He has also designed clothes for the James Bond films and Marvel’s Black Panther (2017). At Arise Fashion Week in April 2018 – a Nigerian showcase of African fashion – he presented his new AFRICANISM collection. He is also the co-founder of the Made in Africa Foundation, which assists in the development of large-scale infrastructure projects on the continent.