Date: born 1981

Biography: Gareth Pugh’s uncompromising vision and dark, provocative futurism have positioned him as one of London’s most stimulating avant-garde designers. His dramatic approach to fashion and his rebellious British eccentricity have earned the admiration of fashion leaders such as Anna Wintour, Daphne Guinness, and, most recently, Lady Gaga. Pugh’s designs appear to channel an alternate reality, a world populated by warrior women, cyborgs, and aliens. His theatricality is in tune with that of British designers such as Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Vivienne Westwood. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Pugh’s final degree collection—which used balloons to accentuate models' joints and limbs—attracted the attention of the senior fashion editor at Dazed & Confused magazine, who placed one of his designs on the cover. Pugh’s still nascent career has already seen many highlights, including an internship with Rick Owens, participation in London’s reality show The Fashion House, and a job creating costumes for singer Kyle Minogue’s Greatest Hits Tour in 2005. Pugh’s name was already being touted in fashion circles by the time he first showed at London Fashion Week, in February 2006. Pugh’s designs express his personal vision of the future. “I think it’s important to do something modern, even if it’s referential of the past, to push it into a new space, and to make it relevant for today, tomorrow even,” he has said. Often inspired by gothic themes, he also draws inspiration from London’s extreme club scene. Rather than build his collections around specific themes, Pugh sees his work as a single seamless flow of ideas that he expands and contracts. His designs range from experiments with shape and form—using materials such as PVC to create inflated voluminous coats—to sci-fi women’s tunics, made entirely of safety pins. Pugh’s signature elements include extremely structured garments, vinyl patchwork squares, Perspex discs linked like chain mail, latex leggings, intersecting zippers, and pointed hem leather coats.