After graduating from London’s Central Saint Martins in 1992, Giles Deacon worked with Jean Charles De Castelbajac in Paris for two years and from 1998 until 2002 he designed at Bottega Veneta and the Gucci Group.
In February 2004 Giles presented his first collection at the Chelsea Pensioners Club at the Chelsea Royal Hospital. The show was styled by Katie Grand with music by Steve Mackey of Pulp and lighting by John Akehurst. Models included Karen Elson, Eva Herzigova and Nadja Auerman. The collection was featured in American, British, Japanese, Italian and French Vogue as well as W, Harper's Bazaar, POP and i-D and was bought by Harvey Nichols, Liberty and Selfridges.
Over the years Giles has collected numerous accolades, starting with the Best New Designer award at the British Fashion Awards 2004. This was followed by Giles winning the Elle Best New Designer award in February 2005. In 2006 Giles won British Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards and in 2009 Giles won Fashion Designer of the Year at the GQ Awards.
Giles has been involved in an ongoing consultancy with New Look since 2004 to design New Look Gold for the high street retailer. For three years Giles also worked as Creative Director at Italian luxury outerwear brand FAY, part of Tods Group.
In 2009 Giles signed a production and distribution agreement with Italian manufacturer Castor Srl. This partnership has allowed Giles to expand the ready-to-wear collection and, more recently, Resort and Pre-Fall collections, adding an important commercial development to the label.
In 2009 Giles won the prestigious ANDAM award and showcased his Spring/Summer 2010 collection during October’s Paris Fashion Week. This led to Giles being asked to be special guest at the prestigious Pitti W event in Florence in 2010, where he showed Pre Fall 2010. From 2010 to 2011, Giles was Creative Director at Emanuel Ungaro. In April 2012 Giles was awarded Fashion Designer of the Year by The World Fashion Channel in Moscow.
Aside from fashion design, Giles is an established illustrator. His work has appeared in Interview, The Face, Pop, I-D, Dutch and Arena Homme Plus, and has formed part of the print design within his ready-to-wear collections. Most recently Giles’ illustrative work was part of a group show at the roma roma roma gallery, organised by the Modern Institute and Gavin Brown Enterprise in New York.
Since its launch, the GILES collection continues to be bought by some of the most prestigious stores in the world including: Matches, Dover Street Market, Joseph, Avenue 32, Harvey Nichols, Emporium Kalu, George Boutique, Hudson Bay, L’Eclaireur, The Corner.com, Eclectic, Splash, Jofre, 10 Corso Como, Amaranto, Casa Tacchini Piacenza, The Queen, Pupi Solari, J.S Kristensen, Vintage Fashion Aktobe, Je Ne sais Quoi, Club Designer, Careyan Taichung, Dear, Colber, Harvey Nichols Hong Kong, Shenzen Copais, Al Ostoura, Harvey Nichols Riyadh, Aishti, Mahat, Al Rubayat, Casual Smart Alkhobar, Piaf, Pointure Antelias, 51 East, AVN Group, Fashion World, Inochi, Le Grand Bazar, Le Premier Voronej, Natalie Boutique, The Icon, Blake, Linda Dresner, Susan of Burlingame, Moda Operandi and Savannah.
Giles takes a very personal approach to the business and regularly involves himself in buying appointments, a fact appreciated by international buyers and store directors. He continues to have a strong following amongst celebrities and regularly dresses Thandie Newton, Kate Moss, Kristen Scott Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen, Daisy Lowe, Daphne Guinness, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Carey Mulligan.
