The 'peacock of Savile Row' on dressing stars for the Met Gala

Ozwald Boateng, celebrating 4 decades of making his indelible people connected the manner industry, got his accidental to stamp his benignant connected the Met Gala successful New York earlier this month.

The esteemed British-Ghanaian decorator for the archetypal clip dressed celebrities - including 3 of Africa's biggest musicians, Tems, Burna Boy and Arya Starr, arsenic good arsenic actors Ncuti Gatwa and Jaden Smith - astatine what is seen arsenic his industry's biggest nighttime of the year.

The taxable - Superfine: Tailoring Black Style - was "completely successful my wheelhouse", helium says, arsenic it looked astatine the mode that benignant formed achromatic identities.

Given that helium already has a robust bequest successful the plan world, the 58-year-old saw the accidental to find caller adherents to the Boateng look.

"I deliberation it's, successful a way, communicating to a caller audience," helium tells the BBC a fewer days aft the showcase.

Throughout his 40 years successful fashion, the decorator has built a estimation for challenging the norms of men's tailoring. His eponymous marque sells form-fitting, stylish suits, often accented with bold colours and West African-inspired patterns.

The lad of Ghanaian immigrants, Boateng reimagined the country's iconic kente cloth to nutrient his signature "tribal" pattern.

"It's each astir having a beardown concept, having a thorough thought of what you privation to execute from the textiles," helium says.

The Met Gala perfectly matched his outlook. "Being a taxable astir achromatic civilization and achromatic taste influence, I mean, however tin you bash that without Africa?" helium asks.

Considering the nexus to Ghana, Boateng explains: "When we were colonised by the Europeans oregon the Brits, we kept our accepted dress, but tailoring was a large portion of however we dressed to look more... efficaciously much European.

"My begetter ever wore tailored suits. You had to beryllium astute astatine each times, that was thing I was taught."

As if producing outfits for 16 celebrities for fashion's premier lawsuit was not stressful enough, Boateng switched up Burna Boy's outfit little than 24 hours earlier the event.

"We did his fitting rather virtually the nighttime earlier the Met Gala," Boateng says, adding that everyone successful the country got "really excited" erstwhile they saw the Grammy-award winning instrumentalist successful the finished product.

The look - a reddish suit paired with a buttercup yellowish garment and eel-skin cape - was partially inspired by Burna Boy's Nigerian roots.

The instrumentalist told Vogue: "As a waterside pikin [Pidgin for "child"] from the Niger Delta, the eel and food successful wide are the lifeblood of my radical - they symbolise survival, tone and the travel of contented done generations."

The Met Gala was "not unusual", Boateng says, explaining that Africa has been portion of his "message" passim his career.

Back successful 1995, Boateng was the archetypal achromatic decorator to unfastened a store connected Savile Row, a London thoroughfare famed for good tailoring.

"When I archetypal started arsenic a designer, Savile arsenic a thoroughfare was a dying street," Boateng recalls.

"The concept, it was dying. I efficaciously moved determination successful the aboriginal 90s and breathed caller beingness into it."

Boateng was dubbed the "peacock of Savile Row" - with his flamboyance, 6ft-something framework and modelesque facial features, helium stood retired among his neighbours.

Colour and flair had agelong been portion of Boateng's psyche. At 5 years aged his favourite outfit was a purple, mohair suit made by his mother, who was a seamstress.

Young Boateng commandeered his mother's sewing instrumentality and though helium initially chose to survey computing astatine college, helium switched to manner aft realising menswear was his future.

As a teenager, Boateng was greatly inspired by tailoring titan Giorgio Armani - and decades later, Armani would praise the London decorator for his "elegance" and "cutting edge" designs.

Boateng opened his archetypal workplace successful his aboriginal 20s, dressing the likes of Mick Jagger, Jimmy Paige and Spike Lee.

He past opened his Savile Row store - astatine the property of 28 helium was the youngest to ever bash so.

The burgeoning decorator captivated London's manner country initially, but successful 1998 helium went bankrupt erstwhile an economical downturn successful eastbound Asia scuppered a large order.

Both his nonrecreational and idiosyncratic beingness descended into disarray - successful conscionable 12 months an full postulation was stolen from his workplace and his matrimony broke down.

But the peacock strutted his mode back. Boateng gradually rebuilt his concern and successful 2002 moved into bigger premises connected Savile Row.

Since then, helium has served arsenic Givency's originative manager for menswear, been awarded an OBE, designed unit uniforms for British Airways and branched retired into womenswear.

While racking up nonrecreational and charitable commitments, Boateng was raising 2 children.

Now adults, Oscar and Emilia Boateng accompanied their begetter to the Met Gala, dressed successful the suits that made their surname 1 of the astir celebrated successful modern British tailoring.

They are not, however, keen to travel their begetter into manner design.

"I'm trying to dilatory but surely seduce them into the manner business," Boateng jokes.

"It is yet their determination to determine what they privation from their life. If they find thing they're passionate astir successful a mode I have, I americium happy."

And what is adjacent for his ain passion? Boateng mightiness person a encephalon brimming with concepts, but helium has a wide imaginativeness of wherever helium wants his marque to spell next.

"The aboriginal is expansion," helium says, "raising superior to really, truly propulsion the marque globally".

"I deliberation it's the infinitesimal successful clip - and it's the close moment."