Ozwald Boateng OBE

Ozwald Boateng was born in Muswell Hill, London, to Ghanaian parents, first learning to sew on his mother's sewing machine. He initially studied computing but left college to pursue tailoring, honing his craft at Southgate College before catching the eye of rebel Savile Row tailor Tommy Nutter, whose flamboyant, colourful reinvention of British tailoring struck a chord with Boateng's own emerging style.

In 1994, at just 27, Boateng became the first tailor of any background to show a collection at Paris Fashion Week, his slim, sharply cut suits lined in vivid jewel-toned silks standing in stark contrast to the boxy, loosely cut fashions dominating menswear at the time. A year later, in 1995, he opened his first store on Vigo Street at the end of Savile Row — becoming, aged 28, both the youngest tailor and the first Black designer to ever open a shop on London's historic tailoring street.

Boateng's fusion of classic British cut with bold colour, drawing on his Ghanaian heritage, is widely credited with reviving Savile Row's relevance at a time when the historic street was struggling to attract a new generation of clients. His client list has grown to include Mick Jagger, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker, Russell Crowe and numerous Hollywood and music stars, and he designed British Airways' staff uniforms as well as costumes for films including Black Panther.

In 2025, Boateng's work took centre stage at the Met Gala's 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style' theme, dressing figures including Burna Boy, Issa Rae and Jaden Smith, cementing his enduring influence on the intersection of Black identity and high fashion decades after he first arrived on Savile Row.