Hussein Chalayan

Hussein Chalayan (Hüseyin Çağlayan) was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1970. He graduated from the Turkish Maarif College in Nicosia. He then moved with his family to England in 1978, obtaining British citizenship and proceeded to study design at the Central Saint Martin’s School of Art and Design in London. He graduated in 1993, and his graduate collection titled "The Tangent Flows", was purchased and displayed in Browns in London. He earned consecutive "British Designer of the Year" nods in 1999 and 2000. In 1995, Chalayan received London Fashion Design Award. In the contest, which was organized by the company "Absolut", he won a financial backing to develop creations for the London Fashion Week in 1995. In the same year, Chalayan also worked with avant-garde pop diva Björk. The jacket that Björk wore on the iconic cover of her album Post was designed by Chalayan. Björk′s Post tour also featured several creations by Chalayan and Björk modeled for Chalayan in October 1995 for London Fashion Week. Chalayan won much praise from trade publications around the world. In the fall of 1998, while still designing his signature line, he was appointed as a design consultant for New York based cashmere company “TSE”. His collaboration with them lasted till 2001, when the company decided not to renew his contract. In 2002, Chalayan expanded his design portfolio with his menswear line, the exclusive rights of which were sold to internet retailer Yoox.com in 2007.

After going through financial woes including having to move his studio three times and working from home with his team in-between, he announced plans to relocate his fashion shows to Paris. Italian clothing manufacture “Gibo” helped him as did British jeweler “Asprey”, who appointed him as their fashion director in the same year. In 2004, he added another diffusion line ′ Chalayan′ to his expanding list of design duties. Chalayan also creates a young, fast and disposable capsule collection for Top Shop in London. He designed an installation for the ′Mind′ section of London′s controversial Millennium Dome and Colette. He was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2006. International recognition also followed, where he was awarded the Design Star Honoree by The Fashion Group International at their annual Night of Stars Gala, New York in 2007. Collaborations did not stop with art and fashion for the designer, who is also a philanthropist. In 2007, Chalayan donated a showpiece to the "Fashion is Art" exhibition in aid of radio station Capital 95.8′s Help a London Child charity, which was sold at an exclusive auction in London. In early 2008, Chalayan designed a series of laser LED dresses in collaboration with luxury label Swarovski, showcased in Tokyo. In the same year, he was appointed as the creative director for German sportswear label “Puma”. Puma have also announced that they have purchased a majority stake in his label. He also collaborated with German hosiery and leg wear label “Falke” to produce one-off footwear pieces for his Autumn/Winter 2008 collection show cased in Paris.

Selected exhibitions where his work has been presented:
1999, Musée de la Mode, Palais du Louvre, Paris
2001, Tate Modern, London
2001, 7th International Istanbul Biennale
2001, F.I.T., New York
2001, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
2002, NºC curated by Hussein Chalayan: project started by Walter Van Beirendonck for ′Fashion 2001 Landed-Geland′ project in Antwerp, first numbers of A MAGAZINE curated by.
2003, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
2004, Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe
2005, 51st International Venice Biennale (representing Turkey)
2005, the first large-scale solo exhibition. "Hussein Chalayan: Autumn/Winter 2005", The Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
2008, Embankment Galleries [Somerset House], London - Skin and Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture
2009, Design Museum London

Reference: en.wikipedia.org, style.com, tirnakmakasi.com