Style News: The Unexpected Giles Deacon

For 34 year old Giles Deacon (or just Giles, as fans have taken to calling him now), all the hard work is finally paying off. In 2006 the English born designer debuted the second collection from his own label, which was a bigger success than even the super confident Deacon himself could have imagined. With Linda Evangelista by his side to headline his latest ready-to-wear collection, everyone noticed a change was in the air. Giles Deacon was becoming a star.

After training at London's St. Martins School of Art in the 1990's, Giles Deacon began doing apprentice work at both Gucci and Bottega Veneta. After that experience, which Deacon often describes as fraught with drama and disappointment, a bold decision was made to strike out on his own. This decision came as a huge surprise to everyone in the fashion industry in London, because Giles Deacon was a completely unknown designer at the time. That risk paid off. Shortly after making the decision to start his own label, 'Giles', Deacon made his solo debut for the 2004 Autumn runway shows. The clothing designs, and the ideas behind them, were such a breath of fresh air that Deacon was immediately booked for a meeting with designer Tom Ford after the shows. The meeting was a success, giving Giles Deacon a golden opportunity to work with many of the most successful fashion houses of Europe. In 2000 he became head designer for Bottega Veneta, and his designs catapulted the fashion house into a previously unreached level of success. Upon leaving Bottega Veneta, Giles Deacon began designing once again for Gucci (but not as an apprentice this time), and the rest is fashion history.

With a stride and confidence in his work that overshadows any need for industry hype, Giles Deacon is a talent that cannot be underestimated. Just when we become bored by the same old looks on the runway, along comes a designer that brings us back to the best of Vivienne Westwood, and Alexander McQueen, with a hint of what's to come from his fresh and wholly unique perspective. Unique is a word in fashion that is often used to describe a certain wacky couture look. Giles Deacon has none of that. His pieces are all clean lines, finished seams, and surprising details. The design aesthetic of Giles Deacon is not going to suit everyone. But those who pay attention to fashion will look at his pieces and find an undeniable appeal, a quality of design that hasn't been seen in a long while.

The designs of Giles Deacon are hard to pin down, but one thing is quite obvious. Everything he creates is a reflection of his own taste. Deacon's clothing matches his personality, and both are magnetic. In his most recent 2006 runway show, the clothes were all about bold patterns and pastels presented in a whole new way. Flowing gowns and exquisitely tailored layering pieces dominated the spring/summer collection. It is apparent from the moment the first model sets foot on the runway in a Giles Deacon piece-this man knows how to design for a woman's body. He knows what to accentuate, and how to balance, which seem to be two things in desperately short supply in the fashion industry today. No other new face in fashion has shown such passion for giving women new avenues of feminity. Not since the early days of Oscar De La Renta has there been a designer who makes women look this beautiful in his pieces.

However talented, Giles Deacon is also a man of great charisma. One can't help but to notice his wholesome good looks, and athletic grace. He shatters the preconceived idea that most people have about fashion designers. Giles Deacon has an unassuming kind of arrogance, that makes you believe in him instead of scoffing at him. Obviously, since he's been able to climb to the top of the fashion ladder in Britain and now the world, while noone batted an eye. That wasn't just luck. When observing the latest looks of Giles Deacon on the runway, one can't help but to think just a bit of arrogance is justified. This is a designer that trusts his instincts, and it appears as though that is paying off in a big way now.

It's very difficult even for the fashion savvy to keep up with all the new lines and designers every season. There are very few of those designers, however, that pop out at you like Giles Deacon does. Love him or hate him, his raw talent and tenacity have assured him a powerful place in fashion for years, if not decades to come. Though he is rumored to be considering design work for the storied house of Givenchy in the future, Giles Deacon admits that he's always at his best when he's on his own. I have to agree, because on his own, Giles Deacon is a legend of fashion in the making.