As part of Cut From AnOther Cloth, Rikesh Chauhan interviews a series of craftspeople of colour who work on and around Savile Row. The project was conducted in collaboration with social impact company Other Box.
Growing up between Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and Lyon, France, Kouadio Amany’s focus from a young age revolved around anything and everything creative — from music and art to styling and design. For the last six years, he has been at tailoring house Ozwald Boateng as a tailor and senior designer. Boateng’s production coordinator Marvin Diankenda moved to London just over a year ago from Liège, Belgium and is, for me, the epitome of cool. His sense of style — and sense of self for that matter — is unparalleled. You’re unlikely to find two better dressed individuals, unless of course you walk into 30 Savile Row.
Marvin, tell us about your ethnicity and heritage.
Marvin: I come from the French part of Belgium and my parents are from Congo. They moved to Belgium to make sure we had a better life, and then I moved to the UK to make sure I had an even better one.
So now you’re at Ozwald Boateng. Was that your first job when you got to London?
Marvin: Yes, my first proper job. I did my placement year here in business development and then they offered me a job as production coordinator.
And how about yourself, Kouadio?
Kouadio: I’m a tailor and senior designer at Ozwald Boateng, which involves me overseeing all external projects, visual merchandising and styling on the whole. After university, learning the trade of fashion design and tailoring in Lyon and in Paris, I became an assistant designer for an independent menswear brand. It was a role I had for four years. I was working doing back-of-house tasks like production and design to customer-facing roles including hosting and working trunk shows and sales salons around Europe.
What advice would you give those who want to work on Savile Row, be it as a cutter, marketer or front-of-house?
Kouadio: It’s vital to have passion for what you want to achieve, and to keep pushing the knowledge of your skills. Savile Row is a skills-based industry, so if you aim to be the best at what you do — regardless of your background — doors will open, eventually. If people want to work on Savile Row, they need to come prepared and be ready to be tested on the ground.
Marvin: Try to reach out to someone that has worked there and see what their experience is. That’s what I did. I reached out and got in touch with the personal assistant and now I’m here. I applied to Ozwald Boateng because he is a person of colour. I thought working on Savile Row for a person of colour was the best thing to do for me.
You’ve technically been on Savile Row for a short period of time, Marvin, so in terms of what you see, what would you say the diversity is like?
Marvin: It looks really white! And it’s known for that. It’s known for mainly consisting of old white British families, but when you go out — because I mainly work in the basement, so every day I go out during my breaks — you see a lot of different people. Black people, Asian people, so it’s quite diverse but I think it could be better. I don’t blame anyone for this, it may be down to people not wanting to reach out to companies on Savile Row. When I was applying for placements, Savile Row wasn’t my first option but they’re the ones that actually got back to me.
Are there areas for improvement?
Kouadio: Yes, mainly within our communities — tailoring needs to be promoted to show the youth that it’s something accessible and not reserved for the elite. Beyond our backgrounds, more diversity around the skill sets of people is imperative, as we want Savile Row to remain the flagbearer for bespoke and craft.
Having a funded academy or scheme of sorts within our communities where young people are trained — even if they cannot afford to pay for the courses — allows them to dream of something other than becoming football players or rappers. That is to say, there are more avenues that we can aspire to. Even open studio days; we need to push the boundaries when it comes to creativity. As the world evolves, the creative mindset needs to follow.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
More from this series:
Introducing Cut From AnOther Cloth
Cut From AnOther Cloth: Dhruva Chandramouli and Jenny Chim
Cut From AnOther Cloth: Chuksi Ibe and Taj Phull
Cut From AnOther Cloth: Nadia Alsagoff, Ji Hae An Sykes and Takudzwa Chigaduro
