Designer Profile
Matty Bovan
Having grown up in York, where he is still based, Matty Bovan, 28, graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2015 with an MA specialising in Fashion Knitwear. His 12-look graduate collection opened the final show, exhibiting his cacophony of sculptural knits, textures and wild, handmade adornments, which earned him the L'Oréal Professionel Creative Award, closely followed by the LVMH Graduate Prize 2015.
He is a newly-announced recipient of this year's BFC NEWGEN bursary, supporting his upcoming Spring/Summer 2019 and Autumn/Winter 2019 shows.
Earlier this year, he held his first solo show at London Fashion Week for Autumn/Winter 2018, entitled ‘Vigilamus,' presented as a self-contained realm beyond our own time where the primitive meets the unearthly – as if artefacts left by a lost stone-age civilisation from the future have been sifted from the soil by off-world archaeologists.
He creates his own parallel world of post-apocalyptic utopianism. Knitted pieces are tough and shredded, with raw-edged woven and knitted panels meeting at ‘off' angles, causing ridges, spines and fins to rise out of the surface of the clothes.
Nominated for British Emerging Womenswear Talent at the Fashion Awards 2017 in partnership with Swarovski, he dressed Georgia May Jagger in a custom made knitted mini dress for the gala ceremony, as well as a custom Matty Bovan costume featuring Swarovski crystal for Rita Ora to wear in her presenting role for the MTV EMA's.
His work is often seen worn by the likes of of Adwoa Aboah, Georgia May Jagger, Hailey Baldwin, Harriet Verney, Noomi Rapace, Rita Ora, and Winnie Harlow.
Championed by Katie Grand, who is consultant stylist on his shows, he has worked with Marc Jacobs and Miu Miu, and is a Senior Contributing Fashion Editor of LOVE Magazine.
He recently launched his new large format zine entitled NEED4MEAD, published by Enlarge Your Memories (EYM). Based on the idea of purgatory, heaven and hell, and British folklore, NEED4MEAD, a play on the medieval drink, is the 2nd zine by Matty Bovan, featuring images shot by Lucy Alex Mac within one half and Dexter Lander, the other.
He has previously shown 3 times as part of Fashion East.
