Gareth Pugh
After Beyonce was spotted in one of the British designers' frocks last week, we were eager to know more about this established and creative talent. So just who is Gareth Pugh and why do we know his name, but not much else about the man?
Well, originally from Sunderland, he was born on August 31, 1981. At the age of 14 Pugh began to realise his talent by working as a costume designer for the English National Youth Theatre.
However, his fashion education officially began at City of Sunderland College, as he then went on to graduate with a degree in Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins in 2003.
His talent was already starting to emerge towards the end of his final collection at St. Martins, when he used balloons to accentuate his models joints and limbs to tremendous effect. This technique later went on to become one of Pugh's signature trademarks.
Pugh's final collection also attracted the attention of the senior fashion editor of Dazed and Confused magazine, who even went on to use of his designs on a future cover issue.
A recurring feature in the magazine, named !Wowow! and an appearance at London club Kashpoint's Alternative Fashion Week, brought Pugh to the forefront of emerging fashion and design talent. It also brought him to the attention of Fashion East, who were known as the people to see in regards to develop new cutting-edge talent.
They then offered Pugh the opportunity to participate in their autumn 2005 group show, leaving him four weeks, no money and no assistants to create a top-notch collection that would earn him critical success. Well he managed that flawlessly and the collection also attracted significant attention to his designs.
Pugh made his debut at London's Fall 2006 fashion week and he has since showed his Spring 2007 and Autumn 2007 collections there also, proving that London really is the place to discover new, cutting-edge and creative talent.
His reputation as a designer has gone from strength to strength each year, with legendary Fashion Editor Anna Wintour being a firm supporter of Pugh and his unique creations. He's dressed many celebrity favourites over the years, most famously dressing Kylie Minogue for her Showgirl tour.
Pugh has drawn comparisons with everyone from Vivienne Westwood to Alexander McQueen, but his collections as he sees them are autobiographical rather than referential, and draw inspiration from Britain's extreme club scene.
His trademark is to play with people's perceptions of the human body, often distorting limbs so that they human body was almost unrecognisable. He used PVC inflated coats and monochrome patchwork square in addition to other tricks to alter our perceptions. He describes his designs as being "about the struggle between lightness and darkness."
However, Pugh's SS07 collection showed much more wearable pieces on the catwalk, which is perhaps where his new direction lies if he can become more commercial. Up until his 2007 show, Pugh used the catwalk for experiments, which although drew the eye and were admiral designs, the fact remained that they couldn't be worn and as such Pugh revealed he hadn't yet sold a single dress.
Those issues now seem to be behind him however, as American superstar Beyonce was spotted in one of his creations, arriving to the European Music Awards last week and was also later spotted in a Pugh creation performing on stage.
Well with his commercial success obviously on the rise, roll on Autumn 09 and his new collection.