Jasper Conran

Jasper Conran

Born on December 12, 1959, Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran is the son of Sir Terence Conran and Shirley Conran, designer and author, respectively. After two years of his birth, his parents led to some relationship problems and were divorced.

Conran completed his primary and secondary education from Port Regis School and Bryanston School during the 1970s. Later, he studied in New York at the Parsons School of Art and Design.

He received Honorary Doctor of Letters from Heriot-Watt University. Moreover, Conran is part of the visiting faculty at the University of Arts in London. Furthermore, he received Civil Law Honorary Doctor from the University of East Anglia. Conran has served many times on the British Fashion Council. As if this was less, Conran is also the Work-Life Balance Trust‘s Patron and Wallace Collection‘s Trustee.

Apart from this, Conran is an openly gay. In 2009, he was ranked 66th in the yearly Pink List of hundred influential lesbian and gay individuals in Britain. This news was publishes by The Independent. A year later, the same list described Jasper Conran as a treasure of the nation.

His debut collection was made for Henri Bendel. In 1979, at the age of nineteen, he designed his first eponymous line of women’s wear. In the subsequent year, he was elected to participate in the London Designer collections. It was in 1985 that the designer started his menswear range. In 1994, he found the opportunity and credit to design a bridal gown for Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, Queen Elizabeth II‘s niece and youngest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth and King George VI.

In 1996, he launched a range of women’s clothing for Debenhams departmental store chain in UK. Following this, Conran designed women’s lingerie, hosiery and accessories; men’s wear and accessories; children’s wear; and homeware. As of 2005, he has been designing luggage for the label, Tripp. These products are sold at Debenhams.

In 1999, he started off with his signature stemware collection for Stuart Crystal and anon for Waterford Crystal. Two years later, Conran designed a china tableware range for Wedgwood. Apart from this, he has made wallpaper, fabric and furnishing collections for the company, Designers Guild. Additionally in 2003, he began creating signature perfumes. A year later, Conran created and launched a fireplace range for Chesney’s. In 2008, he worked with Specsavers to launch Jasper Conran Optical collection. He is the chairman as well as the chief executive officer of the company, Jasper Conran Holdings Ltd.

Another side of Conran defines him as a writer who published his debut book in 2010, titled Country. It is a three hundred page long photographic essay captured during an explorative year around the countryside in England.

Moving on, Conran has always been passionate for performing arts – so much so that he has designed sets and costumes for fourteen theatre, ballet and opera productions including My Fair Lady in direction of Simon Callow, Maria Stuarda by Donzetti opera for ENO, Swan Lake by Galina Samsova, and Sleeping Beauty for Scottish Ballet. Due this, in 1991 he was presented with The Laurence Olivier Award for designing costumes for The Rehearsal by Jean Anouilh in London at the Almeida Theatre.

For his work,  Jasper Conran received eleven different awards between 1982 and 2011.