Nana Boateng; Inset: Ozwald Boateng;
It's not often that I talk about men's fashion on Au Courant, but when I do, it's for good reason. Like most women, my heart stops and I all but salivate at the sight of a manly-man who's not afraid of cutting a natty figure; one who knows what he likes and what looks good on him.
To me, nothing gets better than that. That was, up until I discovered the personal and professional style of bespoke men's designers Ozwald Boateng, and (most recently) his cousin Nana Boateng. Talk about seeing two damn fine black men who can dress themselves as dapper as they outfit their clients. And I'm talking 'bout clients like Russel Crowe, Will Smith, Daniel Day-Lewis, James Franco, Djimon Hounsou and the like. Damn!
The former Boateng designer is quite a menswear force to be reckoned with; with more than 25 years under his measuring tape, he's been honoured by the Queen of England, has had his work showcased in retrospectives at the V&A Museum, did a stint as the Creative Director of menswear for Givenchy, and is generally credited as THE man who revamped the image and reach of London's Savile Row.
And the latter Boateng is not too shabby himself! He recently staged a collection at Caribbean Fashion Week (CFW) 2009, introducing a bold colour palette to the regional menswear scene with his set. Ironic actually, because although we tend to equate the Caribbean with bright, bold colours, most island designers try to appear 'international' with their colour palettes, drowning us in a deluge of autumnal tones and blacks.
But it took a Ghanian Dandy to bring us back to basics with pink cummerbunds, pastel striped shirts, and full-on teal suits for the guys. Love it!
L.M.N. Harris
EDIT: Nov. 30th 2000 - Au Courant has just received word that Ozwald & Nana Boateng are not related: click here for the update.
NB Images courtesy BondMag and The Satorialist
In Deed...I did a complete post about him an his designs right after cfw.
They even featured my post on his fanpage under press...which was nice.
As a Londoner, these guys make me proud. If you're ever in London, take a walk down Saville Row and you'll see the magnitude of what these guys have achieved.
Fantastic, right?I've been to London, but not down Savile, but I heard that Ozwald's store there is SMASHING!