Hussein Chalayan Designer Profile- Stylert.com
Hussein Chalayan is a avant garde designer and exhibitionist, and he is considered one of the most original designers to come out of Britain. His designs are minimal in look, maximal in result. He uses graceful silhouettes, great attention to detail and fabrics like double-faced cashmere, and matt jersey. There is often darkness to his themes, vampires; tombs and constriction have all featured in his collections.
Hussein Chalayan is a Turkish Cypriot, born in 1970. His name was originally Huseyin Caglayan but he changed it to Chalayan. He was an only child, his parent separated, his mother remaining in Cyprus and his father going to London. Hussein joined him there in 1982 when he was 12 years old. His father, whose name is Ata, has since remarried. Obtaining British citizenship, Hussein Chalayan 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.
In 1995,he won a financial backing to develop creations for the London Fashion Week. 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.
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.
Things continued to improve for the designer. 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. In 2004, he and added another diffusion line ‘Chalayan’ to his expanding list of design duties.
February 2008, Chalayan 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
