Ozwald Boateng was born in London, after his parents emigrated from Ghana in the 1950s. His mother was a seamstress. Ozwald gained inspiration from his father’s suits. Boateng received his first suit aged five. Ozwald then gained an interest in fashion as a whole, in particular tailoring, which led him to getting a summer job in tailoring at aged fourteen.

Career

Whilst studying computing, Boateng used to help his girlfriend with her clothing design business. He then started to design and create his own garments, which he sold to his friends.

Boateng quickly realised that he preferred to have a career in fashion design instead of computing.

Soon after, his garments were seen in a famous menswear store in Covent Garden. This led Boateng to open his very own studio in 1991.

In 1994, Boateng was the first tailor to have a catwalk on the runways of Paris Fashion Week. The success of his fashion show led to the opening of his first boutique on Vigo Street in 1995.

Boateng’s modern menswear designs helped Saville Row catch the eye of the the younger demographic, which eventually allowed Boateng to relocate to Saville Row in June, 2002. Boateng experimented with perfumes, and quickly released his own women’s perfumes in 2003.

Boateng is also a well-known costume fashion designer, having designed costumes for television shows and movies.

He has also established a charity in the United Kingdom that is known as the Made in Africa Foundation.