Julien MacDonald
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Julien MacDonald (born March 19, 1972) is a Welsh fashion designer. He also acts as a judge on the British version of Project Runway, known as Project Catwalk, which is broadcast on Sky One.
Born in Merthyr Tydfil, MacDonald was taught knitting by his mother, and soon became interested in design. He was also interested in a career as a dancer, but instead studied textiles at Brighton and went on to the Royal College of Art where he gained a Masters. Soon after he graduated, Karl Lagerfeld recruited him to work for Chanel. He also worked freelance creating knitwear for Alexander McQueen and Owen Gaster.
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[edit] Givenchy
In 2000, he was appointed as successor to Alexander McQueen as chief designer at the Paris Haute Couture house of Givenchy, and in 2001 he was named British Fashion Designer of the Year. His creations have been worn by stars such as Joely Richardson, Kylie Minogue, Geri Halliwell, Carmen Electra and Naomi Campbell. He was also selected by British Airways to redesign their flight attendants' uniforms.
[edit] Criticism
MacDonald was long considered "tacky" and unequal to the master cutters such as Mcqueen and Galliano. Indeed it is rumoured that his appointment to Givenchy after Mcqueen was greated with screams of hillarity at the Mcqueen studio.
He is not considered an "Artist" unlike Mcqueen and Galliano and makes commercial, non-conceptual fashion. He is often pictured with tacky celebrities such as Paris Hilton, who he recently asked to model for him.His participation in commertial programmes such as Project runway as a judge has been greated with horror from fashion insiders as he is commonly viewed as a designer with too little talent to judge young designers having had his own label and givenchy collections slaughtered by the press.
In February 2007, Macdonald was criticised for the prominent use of fur in his autumn collection, causing further outrage when he claimed that "People who don't like fur can p*ss off. I love fur. It's a beautiful natural product from animals." [1]
[edit] Commendation
In June 2006 he was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to fashion.
