Ozwald Boateng

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A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes a lot of hard work.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Dream
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Style is an extension of yourself. My approach is to enhance the personality of the wearer, so he has his own voice
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Voice
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If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it well. That's just my character, that's just the way it is with me.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Character
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You can't have style if you don't have substance.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Style
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Anyone can wear any color. The question is about finding the right shade. There is a momentary trend to dark colors because when the financials are not that great, people go for black, navy and grey.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Dark
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I have my fashion empire to build.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Fashion
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Film is such a very good tool for communicating emotions, and all designers and creative people look to inspire an emotional response.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Emotional
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When things happen - you ask yourself why today, why not tomorrow, why not yesterday? That's the most amazing thing about time.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Yesterday
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Because I'm a designer, I'm quite good when I shop. I know what I'm looking for.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Designer
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When I started, department stores were either very fashion, or very tailored, so the two never mixed. I mixed it, and they said you're too tailored for fashion and too fashion for tailoring. So I had to move the market. So that's what I did.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Fashion
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Shirt collars are very important to me. Putting a very soft shirt collar with a formal suit doesn't work for me at all.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Important
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My wife and I have a tradition of popcorn and videos with our kids on Friday evenings.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Friday
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I'm ready to do womenswear. You've always got to be inspired by something new - women have so much more shape and I'm about finding what to engineer around those shapes.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Shapes
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I'm not into street clothes. Don't understand it. I don't understand those over-exaggerated jean sizes so they hang off your back... I just don't understand it.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Clothes
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I'm doing a lot of things in Africa. I've formed a company with two friends of mine called Made In Africa and we are doing a lot of important things across the continent.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Two Friends
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I haven't been to a job interview since I was 16 years old. When I was approached by Givenchy it was more like a courtship.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Jobs
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I had a suit made for me when I was five. It was double-breasted, mohair and purple. My mother was very particular about clothing - it always used to have to go back into the plastic and it used to drive me insane.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Mother
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Film has always been a really good tool for me to communicate emotion about why I create a collection. I'm probably one of the first designers to make short films.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Tools
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Tailoring was considered to be a world that was very traditional, and basically going out of fashion. Fashion designers did not have a real link with tailoring or tradition, so I fused the two worlds together.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Fashion
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You come to me and it's my job to make you look the best you can look. From an image point of view, would I prefer to dress Jude Law instead of Rolf Harris? Of course. But it's my job to make them both look great.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Jobs
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In Los Angeles, I'm always in Fred Segal. It's become a ritual. I have lunch and then buy lots of things I don't need. Usually tons of clothes for the kids that they grow out of in 10 seconds.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Kids
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If you're a designer, there's got to be some films that you've seen that have inspired you creatively. There's no escaping that.
- Ozwald Boateng
Collection: Escaping