Hussein Chalayan was born in Nicosia, Cyprus. He graduated in 1993 from London’s Central St Martins School of Art and Design. His degree collection consisted of silk and cotton garments which he had buried with iron filings in his garden. The collection was immediately bought by Browns, launching him as a significant new fashion force.
Hussein Chalayan launched his own label in 1994. He won the Absolut design award in 1995 and was named British Designer of the Year in 1999 and in 2000. He uses film, installations and sculptural forms to explore perception and the realities of modern life, with particular interest in cultural identity, migration, anthropology, technology, nature and genetics.
His work is presented at his shows and in art galleries, while his clothing is available in boutiques in the world’s major cities. He lectures regularly about his work and has exhibited in museums worldwide, including the V&A in London, The Kyoto Costume Institute, The Musée de la Mode-Palais du Louvre in Paris, The Design Council at Grand Central Terminal, NY, …
Hussein Chalayan has directed several short films since 2003. Sponsored by Turquality, he represented Turkey in the 2005 Venice Biennale with Absent Presence, featuring Tilda Swinton. In 2005 the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands hosted a ten-year retrospective of his work and he had several pieces exhibited in the Anglomania exhibition at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, in 2006.
He designed costumes for Michael Clark’s 1998 production current/SEE. Hussein Chalayan has been the creative director of Asprey and TSE New York and has designed capsule collections for London retailers Top Shop and Marks & Spencer.
In 2002 Chalayan began showing his collections in Paris and launched his menswear collection. In 2004 his diffusion line Chalayan by Hussein Chalayan was introduced.
Hussein Chalayan collaborated with Swarovski on several shows. For SS07 he created a range of motion dresses, physically morphing in front of the audience to express 111 years of fashion. He formerly worked with Swarovski in 2006 creating a rotating collar dress for Runway Rocks and an installation piece titled “Repose” exhibited at the Kunsthalle Mannheim gallery, Germany and at the Crystal Palace, Milan.
In 2006 Hussein Chalayan was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honour’s list. Soon after he was also awarded Design Star Honoree in 2007 by The Fashion Group International at their annual Night of Stars Gala in New York.
For his Spring/Summer 2008 womenswear collection Chalayan produced a film entitled Readings in collaboration with Nick Knight and SHOWstudio which was screened in October 2007 during Paris Fashion Week.
