Giles Deacon on Carving Out His Own Fashion Calendar

The Business of Fashion Podcast

The Business of Fashion

Fashion & Beauty, Business, Arts

4.6 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2020

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The designer speaks with BoF's Imran Amed about the importance of creative autonomy in a time of 'product for more product’s sake.'

LONDON, United Kingdom — Designer Giles Deacon’s list of clients is impressive, including Billie Porter, Sarah Jessica Parker and the New York City ballet, while his runway shows were once counted as one of the most exciting events at London Fashion Week. But a few years ago, he decided to leave all that behind, focusing on growing his private client business instead. In the latest episode of The BoF Podcast, Deacon spoke with BoF Founder and Editor-in-Chief Imran Amed about what it's been like to buck the system in a meaningful way.

After a few years working in the fashion industry, Deacon became disillusioned by the pace of production. “[It] was about designing more and more product for more product’s sake,” he said. So he decided to return to his art school days, focusing on craftsmanship and elaborate designs.
For Deacon, creative autonomy is crucial. If couture designers are to deliver spectacular garments, they need time and artistic independence. “The beauty of the bespoke is to be able to work with the client to give them that sense of service and exclusivity,” said Deacon, adding that his network of VIP customers has grown organically through word of mouth.
Lockdown hasn’t stopped Deacon from working over the past few months. "I have been doing sketching, consultations and FedExing patterns,” he said. “It’s gotten smaller, but things still move along.”
Looking to the future, Deacon said social distancing measures have prompted him to rethink his own practices. “I have become more conscious of my travelling… [Once lockdown restrictions are lifted, I may travel] less but possibly for longer.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I want this conversation to really be about positivity within the industry because we're all involved in it and we're wanting to find good ways of working.
0:11.0	How do you measure success now?
0:13.0	The beauty of the bespoke is to be able to work with the client to give them that sense of service, that absolute sense of exclusivity so that everything
0:23.7	that they have is exclusive for them.
0:25.7	So if it's a specific print for a piece, for an event, we can design all of that form.
0:34.9	Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion, and welcome to the Bof
0:40.3	podcast. This past week on BOF Live, I sat down with an old friend, the designer Giles Deacon.
0:47.0	Now, when I first started exploring the fashion industry, Giles was one of the top fashion designers
0:52.9	in London. Everyone flocked to his shows at London Fashion Week. A few years back, Giles was one of the top fashion designers in London. Everyone flocked to his shows at London Fashion Week.
0:56.6	A few years back, Giles decided he'd had enough of the fashion system. And with all of the conversation
1:02.1	that's been ongoing about how the fashion system is broken and with designers looking for a new way
1:07.8	to operate, I thought it would be good to sit down with Giles to hear his perspectives on how he's shifted the way he operates in a completely private
1:16.8	client business, a little bit like Ocouture. Here's Giles Deacon inside fashion.
1:34.3	I'm delighted to have with me today a dear old friend,
1:36.4	Giles Deacon.
1:38.6	And I'll tell you all a funny story.
1:52.5	The first fashion video interview I ever did was with Giles Deakin. It was back in December, December 2008, we recorded and then we released it in January 2009. Yeah. And because we weren't doing live
2:00.7	interviews back then. But technology now enables us to do
2:05.0	a live interview, Giles.
2:06.4	So I'm very happy to see.
2:07.9	Terrifying.
2:08.9	It's great.
	...

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