Son of Ghanaian immigrants, Ozwald Boateng was born in Muswell Hill, London, UK on the 28th of February 1967.  He is globally known as a fashion designer making classic suits and creating bespoke styles.  Boateng attributes his interest in suits to his father who he describes as wearing “immaculate suits” and the very first suit he wore as an eight-year-old was double breasted in purple mohair.  As a teenager, he worked during the summer holidays at a clothing business sewing lining into suits.  At Southgate College, where he studied computer science, his then girlfriend showed him how to cut and design.

That was when he began to make clothes with his mother’s old sewing machine and selling to other students.  He switched from Computer Science to Fashion and Design. Boateng received praise for his work helping a friend with a fashion show and he was able to sell his first collection to a menswear shop in the upmarket Covent Garden.  Eventually, he opened his first studio in Portobello Road, staging a catwalk presentation in Paris during the 1994 Paris Fashion Week.  This made Boateng the first tailor to stage a catwalk show in Paris.  The success of this show brought Boateng to Vigo Street at the southern end of Savile Row.  He is established globally as a truly creative tailor using a contemporary approach to attract a younger market to Savile Row.  He also launched perfumes and has designed for and produced several films. As at November 2019, Ozwald Boateng was the only black owned store on Saville Row.  In 2007, he was commissioned by President JA Kufuor to design and curate a show at the 9th annual AU summit.  This coincided with 200 years since the end of the slave trade and Ghana’s 50th independence anniversary.