Ozwald Boateng Quotes:

A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes a lot of hard work.

Topics: Dream, Hard Work, Reality, Pursue Your Dreams, Dreams Can Come True

Style is an extension of yourself. My approach is to enhance the personality of the wearer, so he has his own voice

Topics: Voice, Personality, Style

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.

Topics: Dark, Color, People, Dark Colors

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.

source: - "A Conversation With Fashion Icon Ozwald Boateng on Style, Africa, and His New Film A Man’s Story". Interview with Govindini Murty, Jason Apuzzo, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 3, 2012.

Topics: Escaping, Inspired, Film

My wife and I have a tradition of popcorn and videos with our kids on Friday evenings.

source: - "My life in shopping". The Guardian Interview, www.theguardian.com. May 16, 2008.

Topics: Friday, Kids, Wife

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.

source: - "My life in shopping". The Guardian Interview, www.theguardian.com. May 16, 2008.

Topics: Kids, Lunch, Clothes

Shirt collars are very important to me. Putting a very soft shirt collar with a formal suit doesn't work for me at all.

Topics: Important, Suits, T Shirt, Collars

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.

source: - "Ozwald Boateng: does my head look big in this?". Interview with Decca Aitkenhead, www.theguardian.com. March 09, 2012.

Topics: Fashion, Moving, Two, Department Stores, Tailored

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.

Topics: Jobs, Views, Law

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.

Topics: Fashion, Real, Two

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.

Topics: Character, Way, Wells

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.

Topics: Clothes, Size, Streets

When things happen - you ask yourself why today, why not tomorrow, why not yesterday? That's the most amazing thing about time.

Topics: Yesterday, Today, Why Not

You can't have style if you don't have substance.

Topics: Style, Substance

Because I'm a designer, I'm quite good when I shop. I know what I'm looking for.

source: - "My life in shopping". The Guardian Interview, www.theguardian.com. May 16, 2008.

Topics: Designer, Shops

I have my fashion empire to build.

Topics: Fashion, Empires

Film is such a very good tool for communicating emotions, and all designers and creative people look to inspire an emotional response.

source: - "A Conversation With Fashion Icon Ozwald Boateng on Style, Africa, and His New Film A Man’s Story". Interview with Govindini Murty, Jason Apuzzo, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 3, 2012.

Topics: Emotional, People, Creative, Emotional Response

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.

source: - "A Conversation With Fashion Icon Ozwald Boateng on Style, Africa, and His New Film A Man’s Story". Interview with Govindini Murty, Jason Apuzzo, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 3, 2012.

Topics: Tools, Firsts, Emotion, Short Films

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.

Topics: Mother, Purple, Insane

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.

Topics: Jobs, Years, Interviews, Job Interview, Givenchy

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.

Topics: Two Friends, Important, Made

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.

Topics: Shapes, Inspired, Something New