Matthew Williamson

Matthew Williamson

Matthew Williamson is a high-spirited and humorous chap who chose to be a fashion designer. He was born in Manchester in 1971 and studied at Loreto College till the age of seventeen. He then relocated to London in order to attend Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design and graduated from there in 1994.

Three years later, Matthew founded his eponymous house of fashion in February, 1997. Around the same time, he introduced his first collection, called Electric Angels, at the London Fashion Week. Then he displayed his work in 2002 at New York Fashion Week. Following this, Williamson opened a store in Mayfair after two years.

In 2005, the designer launched a perfume collection and the next year he got appointed at Emilio Pucci as the Creative Director. In 2007, he incorporated the song Chelsea Rodgers by Prince from his album, Planet Earth. The same year, a retrospective of his work was held at London’s Design Museum, marking the designer ten year journey in fashion.

In 2008, he was given the Red Carpet Designer accolade during the British Fashion Award ceremony where Williamson also received Designer of the Year nomination. In September of that same year, he focused on his label’s expansion and ventures.

In addition to all this, he appeared as a guest on Project Runway season 7 that aired in the starting month of 2010. Later in the year, he signed a licensing contract with MBFG that gave birth to a new collection titled Muse By Matthew Williamson.

Williamson’s parents have always been inspiring, creative and supportive. His mother worked as an optical receptionist and father had his own business of television sales. Matthew lived in a house where everything was kept in order and looked pretty.

As a child, Matthew was as focused as he is now. He always wanted to become a fashion designer. His commitment proved to be fruitful for him for many years to come. Although he is serious about his work and infatuation, he is a funny person otherwise.

Williamson loves the work by the artist, Gary Hume. Matthew is truly touched by the color sense of Hume. Moreover, he likes the works of Jim Lambie who uses luminous tape for his patterns on floor.

When asked about a book that changed his life, in an interview, he took the name of Vogue magazine. Although it is not a book but for many designers such publications are like bible. Apart from this, his all time favorite movies are Into The Wild, A Single Man, and The Beach. Everyone knows about villains in films, but the real-life ones for Williamson are politicians in general. He doesn’t like their conformist and rigid personalities.

Williamson described his life in 6 words: ambitious, honest, passionate, creative yet insecure. He likes travelling to “sexy” and “exotic” countries and loves to visit Thailand and India. However, London is where the designer lives. It is a modern, urban and fast-paced city and he has hired a chauffeur to drive his car since the roads are too narrow from Williamson to drive himself.

As a personal dressing preference, Williamson likes to wear all sorts of colors, such as bright, pastel, dark and so on. However, the designer feels that blue looks the best on him. When he is making a collection of clothes for others to wear and see, he doesn’t limit himself to visualizing a certain character and making the outfit. He just makes what he feels is worth making.