STRAPPING, handsome and hailing from Darlington: all huge grins, expressive hands, jokey giggles and Terry Richardson glasses, Giles Deacon is seemingly cut from the same down-to-earth cloth as Grace Coddington. Lauded as one of the most "inclusive" designers in fashion today - he "talks the same to everyone, from waiters to heads of fashion houses" says David Waddington, friend and Bistroteque owner - Giles is as refreshing as his designs. As a crowning member of the London Fashion A-team, with a collection of accolades, his hands firmly grasping the "supergood" creative directorial reins at Ungaro as well as a label of his own namesake, he is a force to be reckoned with. Currently zigzagging between London, Paris and Milan preparing the Giles and Ungaro precollections (he now works on 10 collections a year), Deacon last night graced the Whitechapel Gallery with his smiling presence, to discuss - with Iwona Blazwick - the art that has inspired him.
After waving a big hello and flashing a beaming smile, Giles and Iwona embark on a wide ranging discussion of his' favourite contemporary artists. Deacon fondly references old college (St Martins) friends, such as Simon Periton and his " amazingly coloured" intricate cut-outs and "oblique popness", namely Double Leather Face which references Mark Bolan and T-Rex. He registers awe and admiration for another pal, Jim Lambie, and then Giles, king of anecdotes, tells his admiring audience the story behind Lambie's Touch Zobop (2003), a floor installation constructed using a "broken old skateboard on wheels" to painstakingly lay rolls and rolls of glossy rainbow-coloured duct tape in a geometric fashion. Both works reference the psychedelic, a vision which frequents Giles' work, principally in his use of colour. Tellingly, he's also a huge fan of Hacienda acid house.
Giles also cites Keith Haring, a fellow fan of day-glo, as an influence. The beauty of Haring's work is its "basicness, intuitiveness and impulsiveness". Despite the couture element of many of his clothing designs, Giles is also a big fan of things that are "instant".
Well-known artists aside, it quickly becomes apparent that Deacon can more than hold his own in the drawing stakes. As his sketches are unveiled there is no doubt that he is an incredible illustrator. When asked whether he considers these works to be "artworks or drawings", in a typically modest fashion, he chooses the latter. Some may beg to differ. He proclaims his love for the instantaneous creative results that the act of drawing provides, demonstrating the importance of hand eye coordination and recommends life drawing as "one of the most important things you can do in life", irrespective of your profession. Giles' ink illustrations are as captivating as his chat, all beautifully detailed, subversive and sexy. Some are dark, gothic and spiky - he says the below sketch now reminds this of the "Human Centipede" movie, a film he calls "absolutely hilarious". The word "hilarious" crops up frequently. Life studio Giles must be good.
"Did you see Kylie Minogue on X Factor last Saturday?" Giles asks. "Anyone?". It turns out her backing dancers donned his Pac Man headgear, those he worked on with Stephen Jones for his S/S 2009 collection. It seems 1980s sci-fi nostalgia never goes out of fashion.
Being subversive, and making something beautiful out of something which is not, is a recurring idea. His good friend Lily Allen once donned his headline-grabbing deliciously dark decapitated Bambi dress.
He then recounts a scene in a Paris showroom, when amongst his collection for sale was his tarantula dress. There were certain well known store directors who wouldn't enter the room due to their arachnophobia, which of course Giles and his team found "hilarious". Although "not so hilarious" was the fact that they didn't spend a penny.
For his current Giles collection, Judy Blame is responsible for an intricate black spiky neckpiece, made quite simply out of bin bags bought from the local shop. With a laugh, Deacon admits this recycled junk aesthetic is "quite nichely British", both "to do it" (make such things) and "to appreciate it". Amidst the fantasy and surrealism of much of his design, Giles fundamentally keeps in real.
With so much spirit himself, it is telling that Giles is only really "interested in women who have character, experience and opinions on things", not one for "acres of faceless girls. I don't find it interesting at all". In his own label's S/S 2011 show, Giles cast real ladies from all across the body shape board - Deyn walked with Kelly Brook, Abbey Clancey and Verushka. - an idea attributed to former beau, the luminary Katie Grand. Blaswick notes that Giles' "clothes celebrate the female form" and indeed they do.
It comes as no surprise that John Currin is amongst his favourite artists.
It must have been such relief to the Ungaro house that Giles was brought in to usurp Lohan as creative director. It was indeed a surprise to him - he "never thought that at the beginning of this year" he "would be clearing Lindsay Lohan's desk out". One can see how this charmingly unaffected self-deprecating raconteur, with his strong belief in the "democratisation of fashion" and "everyone bringing ideas to the table" would be a very approachable boss who really gets things done. Unlike Lohan, who instead seems to devote her time to racking up lines, jail sentences and DUIs.
Giles is inspired and influenced by a vast array of artists and creatives: from Lambie to Allen Jones, Mapplethorpe to Hockney. He has worked in Paris, Milan, the US; for high fashion houses and the high street. He has even dressed the Cadbury's Caramel Bunny. In the same way, his source inspiration, design, motifs and methodology is wide ranging, he "likes the obliqueness and lots of ideas to come into something". He is collaborative, both in his design and in the way he works - he "likes collaborating with people" and is "impressed by people who can work solidly across many mediums", stressing the importance of not "pigeon holing yourself".
Rachel Warrilow.
