Ozwald Boateng

Ozwald Boateng OBE is a fashion designer. He was born in Ghana in the late 1960s and brought up in north London. While studying computing at Southwark College, he was introduced to cutting and designing clothes by his then girlfriend. With the help of his mother, who was an excellent seamstress, he started selling his mother's designs to passersby along Portobello Road. At age 23, disillusioned with a mundane job in IT, he set up on his own full-time. He began making bespoke suits in 1990 and is widely credited with introducing Savile Row tailoring to a new generation. Boateng's many clients include Will Smith, Laurence Fishburne, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Russell Crowe, Keanu Reeves, and Mick Jagger.