British menswear designer Ozwald Boateng has achieved a great deal since entering the fashion business nearly two decades ago. Known for his wildly colorful, slim-fitting suits, Boateng was the youngest tailor – and the first black – to open a shop on Savile Row in London. (He was 28 at the time.)
Three years ago the venerable French design house Givenchy named him creative director of men’s wear. This year he was awarded the Order of the British Empire. The list of stars who have worn his bespoke creations include Mick Jagger, Will Smith, Laurence Fishburne, David Bowie and David Beckham.
Yet there is still one more thing Boateng would like to accomplish. “I want to win in America,” he said on a recent morning. “You can’t have true success in my business until you’ve made it here.”
While he enjoys a certain celebrity in Britain, Boateng, 39, remains a relative unknown in this country, a situation he hopes to change with “House of Boateng,” an eight-episode documentary series (10 p.m. Thursday on Sundance, Comcast digital cable channel 505).
The show follows him as he tries to open a flagship store in the United States. Viewers watch as Boateng holds meetings with potential investors, fine-tunes a coming collection, stages fashion shows and outfits celeb for the red carpet.
The series is the brainchild of Ben Silverman, who created the reality series “Blowout” and “The Restaurant” and is an executive producer on “The Office” on NBC. For years, Silverman said, he believed that Boateng’s model looks and charisma would work well on television, but Boateng was reluctant.
“I thought he would make a great host for some fashion-related show,” Silverman said, “and he was always like: ‘I don’t know, Ben. It’s not my style.”‘
But now, Boateng said, he thinks the exposure will be good for business. Lounging in a suite in the St. Regis Hotel, Boateng was impeccably dressed in a midnight-blue suit of his design, a pink shirt and sleek black shoes. It is a look his fans have come to love.
Notes Robert Verdi, a stylist and the host of “Fashion Police” on the Style Network: “He’s suave without being slick, handsome without being intimidating and hip without being desperate.”
Boateng was born and raised in north London, the youngest of three children of Ghanaian parents. His mother, whom he thanks for his sartorial flair, sewed her own clothes, but Boateng said he didn’t consider a career in fashion until a college girlfriend, an aspiring designer, asked him to help create some looks for a runway show she was organizing. He was soon making clothes for his classmates.
By his early 20s he was a fixture on the European fashion scene. In the next few years Boateng hopes to have a handful of shops in major cities in the United States. He will also have a strong presence in American department stores, a women’s line and a men’s diffusion line, “which will be more casual and accessible,” he said.
Though his future looks bright, he said he remained clear about one thing. “You can’t choose America,” he said. “America has to choose you.”