New designer at Debenhams Giles Deacon reveals the secret of high-street collaborations

The designer has built an empire of womenswear and star-studded catwalks, but isn’t adverse to a high-street collaboration, we meet the London designer

London designer Giles Deacon

With H&M’s blockbuster designer collaboration mere days away from launch, the high street bringing superstar designers on board seems to be a winning formula.

Department store Debenhams was one of the first retailers to collaborate with a high fashion label and continues to add to its roster with the likes of Matthew Williamson, Jonathan Saunders, Todd Lynn, Henry Holland and Roksanda Ilincic. Its latest addition is Giles Deacon, the London designer who has made a name for himself with his stunningly beautiful creations, jaw-dropping gown and his quirky British humour. In an exclusive chat with the designer star, we learn the secrets behind his success.

On the challenges from couture to high-street

Deacon is well known for his couture-like catwalk creations, but with previous collaborations with New Look and Ann Summers the high-street business is one he is familiar with. Switching from the super high-end couture world to a casual, everyday wardrobe, can be challenging. The key he explains is to “make something different, with its own personality”.

“I didn't want it to just be a version of what I do for the runway. I wanted it to be a collection that had the handle of me and my studio, but for it to have its own sense,” he tellsThe Independent.

But at the same time, he explains every piece has his trademark injection, because “it'd be a shame if it didn’t”.

Todd Lynn and Giles Deacon, both who have done collaborations with Debenhams, celebrate the launch of Giles Edition collection

Also, to be able to produce a well crafted collection at an accessible price “is all about sourcing the right products”.

“That's the great thing about Debehams’ expertise team,” he says. "They're very well-skilled in producing top quality products for the high street. It [the collaboration] was a good marriage of my high end expertise and their high street ways.

“A skirt with satin details at the back, embroideries, knitwear, a black dress… It has all those elements that I have within a collection, but in an Edition format.

“And, yes, it took a lot of time to create the rails that we see.”

Daisy Lowe for Giles at Debenhams

On being accessible

“Why shouldn't we want everybody to have a piece of Giles in their wardrobe,” he says of his collaboration which ranges in price from £40 to £160.

On the ‘Giles’ woman

The “very inclusive” Debenhams collection, which he describes as timeless, glamorous and special, is aimed for “a woman who likes to have statement pieces within their wardrobe. Someone that has a great sense of chic with a sense of playfulness, and wants to have some fun with it”.

“I never like to talk about ages, but there are items here that could go from sort of 25 to 75, there really is something for everybody.”

On returning to Debenhams

This is not the first time that Deacon has worked with the British department store. He had a brief stint working for the retailer early in his career:

“Twenty years later, here I am. It’s more funny than an emotional thing really,” he says with a big smile. Two decades ago, at his early days following his degree at Saint Martins, he worked at Debenhams for six months “designing middle-age men’s leisurewear, called Casual Club, which I don’t think it exists anymore”. Now, he returns I'm a way he "never thought at the time".

On “curvy” Daisy Lowe

Giles’s catwalks boast a superstar model line up, so it’s no surprise that he has chosen to have a well-known face to present his debut for Debenhams.

“Daisy [Lowe] was my first choice to be the face of the collection. I’ve known her for a long time.

“She’s an absolutely wonderful girl, superstar, with brilliant energy and her sense of style encapsulates everything that we wanted to have in the collection.

“She’s curvy. She’s a girl’s girl and someone that people could really relate to.”

On the seventies trend

Deacon’s collection gets inspiration from the sixties and seventies, but he argues “it’s not so literally 70s-inspired”.

“It’s more the feeling I have for it… if you look at photographers like Helmut Newton, and people like Saint Laurent, Jane Birkin. It’s like a kind of that sense of accessible flamboyance from that period of time, which I’ve always been obsessed with.”

Daisy Lowe in a floral print from Giles Edition collection

Deacon’s favourite pieces

“Cocktail gown with beautifully printed abstract flowers and a big kind of bows.

Giles at Debenhams, £75

“A little black dress with all the star embroidery on it. A super simple tunic, but really special.”

Giles at Debenhams, £110 (Giles Deacon at Debenahms)

Both pieces will hit stores next month with the Christmas’ partywear.

“And the coats I like a lot.”

Giles at Debenhams, £150 (Giles Deacon at Debenahms)

On the launch

The collection launched with a cocktail reception at the London Edition Hotel with friends Millie Mackintosh and Daisy Lowe supporting the designer’s debut collection for Debenhams.

"I am really looking forward to walking past people on the street wearing my clothes and know I am designing for an everyday woman," he adds.

Alicia Rountree, Millie Mackintosh with Giles at the luanch of Giles Edition at Debenhams

Daisy Lowe and Giles Deacon at the launch of Giles Edition for Debenhams

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