Hussein Chalayan is one of the most innovative and influential fashion designers of today. He was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1970 and moved to London with his family in 1978. He studied fashion design at the prestigious Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and attracted attention in 1993 with his graduation collection, “The Tangent Flows,” which consisted of clothes he buried in the ground and dug up again just before the show. In doing so, he wanted to show the process of decomposition and how it relates to life, death and urban decay.
Chalayan founded his own fashion label in 1994 and presented his fashion at London Fashion Week. He won the British Designer of the Year Award twice (1999 and 2000) and was awarded the MBE in 2006. He is known for his avant-garde and conceptual creations, which often integrate elements of architecture, art, technology and philosophy. Experimenting with unusual materials, shapes and functions, he creates garments that are more than just fashion, but also tell stories, ask questions and trigger emotions.
Among his most famous works are the Airmail Dress (1999), a dress made of paper that can be folded into an airmail envelope and mailed; the Coffee-table Skirt, a skirt that can be transformed into a coffee table; the Remote Control Dresses; the LED Dresses, dresses with built-in LED screens; and the Transforming Dresses , dresses that automatically transform themselves during their presentation on the runway.
Chalayan is not only a fashion designer, but also an artist who uses his fashion as a medium for his creative expressions. He has shown his work in numerous exhibitions around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Design Museum in London, the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. He has also collaborated with other artists such as Björk and Lady Gaga.
Hussein Chalayan is a visionary fashion designer who constantly pushes and challenges the boundaries of fashion. He shows us that fashion can be more than just clothes, but also art, communication and culture.