DALLAS, Dec 8, 2003/ FW/ --- London-based designer Ozwald Boateng, (photo at left) known for his bespoke clothing line has been appointed as the Artistic Director of Givenchy Homme.

In two separate announcements, LVMH and the Ozwald Boateng design house has confirmed that the British designer will be responsible for the creation of the first men’s ready-to-wear line for the venerable Paris fashion house.

“It is a great honour to be chosen as Creative Director for such an important brand,” said Ozwald Boateng in a statement.

“I am thrilled to undertake such an exciting challenge and look forward to the many new experiences this opportunity will offer me and my company,” the designer added.

Boateng who has no formal training in fashion design learned the tricks of the trade hands on at Savile row, the home of bespoke tailoring in London.

He launched his eponymous label and opened his first store in Savile Row in 1995. A year later, in 1996, he won the Best Male Designer Award at the Trophées de la Mode and in 2000, the Top Menswear Designer Prize at the British Fashion Awards.

An emerging favorite of the Hollywood crowd, Ozwald Boateng has dressed leading men and character actors under the klieg lights. His client list includes Lawrence Fishburne and Keanu Reeves, who wore Ozwald Boateng’s creations, as did most of the cast of “The Matrix” trilogy during the Hollywood blockbuster’s premieres around the world.

Daniel Day Lewis and Will Smith have also been spotted wearing Ozwald Boateng’s bespoke tailoring on the red carpet.

Ozwald Boateng’s distinctive creations feature refined fabrics, electric colors, contrasting materials and trademark details such as angled pockets and concealed buttons. His collections, shown in Paris, reinterpret traditional tailoring with elegance and panache.

Part of Ozwald Boateng’s design genius is his ability to blend the past and the present, creating clothing that are full of history, yet very modern and contemporary.

That gives him an edge with today’s generation who is enamored with the past, yet very comfortable with modern technology.

To paraphrase Michael Crichton in his book “Timeline,” it is the promise of the past that makes the future very exciting.

Writers do it with words, Hollywood does it with film, and Ozwald Boateng does it with his clothing.

Each season, the designer creates groundbreaking collections, from his “Tribal Traditionalism” in Spring 2002, which featured Swarovski crystals in African tribal aesthetics, to his “Beginning of Time” (see photo at left)collection in Fall 2003, which explored the ancient and modern traditions of China and Japan.

Whether it was a stroke of luck or a twist of fate, the “Beginning of Time” collection was very much in tune with “The Matrix: Reloaded.” When the movie was premiering worldwide, the collection was also hitting store shelves.

Ozwald Boateng hit the market at the right place and the right time, widening his audience with one stroke of genius.

His clothing, which was already the darling of the upper crust, became a “must have” for the twenty-something generation!

Givenchy Homme is in good hands with Ozwald Boateng, who has the reinterpretation of the past and putting it together for today’s generation down pat.

“My challenge will be to reinvent the French gentleman. My inspiration will be Hubert Givenchy’s style and elegance,” commented Ozwald Boateng about his new appointment at Givenchy Homme.

Hubert de Givenchy’s splendid designs, as seen on Audrey Hepburn at “Breakfast at Tiffany's,” is renowned all over. And Ozwald Boateng is the best person to interpret it for menswear.

Marianne Tesler, CEO of Givenchy Couture, said it best. “Ozwald Boateng’s expertise in cutting and his original talent – which fuses the best of tradition with a taste for modernity – fit perfectly with the Givenchy Homme style.”

Ozwald Boateng will present his first collection for Givenchy Menswear in Paris in July 2004. He will continue to show his bespoke clothing collection in Paris.