Jasper
Alexander Thirlby Conran OBE (born 12 December 1959) is an English fashion
designer. He is the son of the designer Sir Terence Conran and the author
Shirley Conran.Husband Oisin Byrne
Queer Places:
Parsons School of Design, 66 5th Ave, New York, NY 10011, Stati Uniti
Bryanston School, Blandford Forum DT11 0PX, Regno Unito
Jasper
Alexander Thirlby Conran OBE (born 12 December 1959) is an English fashion
designer. He is the son of the designer Sir Terence Conran and the author
Shirley Conran.
He was educated at Port Regis School and Bryanston School in the 1970s. He also studied at the Parsons School of Art and Design in New York, US.
Jasper Conran's first collection was for Henri Bendel New York. In 1979, aged 19, he designed his first womenswear collection under his own name. The following year he was elected to the London Designer collections. Conran designed his first menswear collection in 1985.
In 1999, he began designing a signature range of stemware for Stuart Crystal and later for Waterford. In 2001, he launched a fine bone china tableware collection for Wedgwood.
In 1996, he launched his exclusive J line womenswear range for the Debenhams chain of UK department stores. Today that association has grown to include women's accessories, lingerie, hosiery, menswear, men's accessories, childrenswear, homeware and Luggage.
In 1994, he designed Lady Sarah Chatto's wedding and bridesmaid dresses. He also designed wedding dresses for Jasmine Guinness and Paula Yates. Conran launched his own made to measure bridal collection in 2007.
Jasper Conran released furnishing fabric and wallpaper collections for Designers Guild as well as a range of signature fragrances in 2003. A year later, he designed and launched a three range fireplace collection for Chesney's. By 2005, he was designing a collection of luggage for Tripp and in 2008 launched his Jasper Conran Optical range with Specsavers.
He published his first book, Jasper Conran Country, in 2010. This 300 page photographic essay was captured during a year of exploration around the English countryside.
Conran is the chairman and chief executive of Jasper Conran Holdings Ltd. He is also a non executive director of Conran Holdings Ltd.
Throughout his career, Jasper Conran has pursued his passion for the performing arts. He has designed costumes and sets for fourteen ballet, opera and theatre productions.
He collaborated closely with David Bintley on the Royal Ballet's production of "Tombeaux" at Covent Garden and the Birmingham Royal Ballet's "The Nutcracker Sweeties", "Brahms/Handel Variations", "The Shakespeare Suite" and "Arthur Part I & II" . He also designed the set and costumes for David Bintley's "The Compleat Consort" for the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich.
Other works include "My Fair Lady" directed by Simon Callow, Donzetti's opera "Maria Stuarda" for ENO and Galina Samsova's "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty" for the Scottish Ballet.
In 1991 Jasper Conran won a The Laurence Olivier Award for Costume Design for Jean Anouilh's "The Rehearsal" at the Almeida Theatre in London.
Jasper Conran is an Honorary Doctor of Letters at Heriot-Watt University, and a Visiting Professor at the University of the Arts London and an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law at the University of East Anglia. He is also a Governor of Bryanston School and has served several times on the British Fashion Council.
Conran is a Patron of the Work-Life Balance Trust – of which his mother is President. He is also a Trustee of the Wallace Collection and the Architecture Foundation.
He is openly gay. In 2009, he was ranked number 66 in the annual Pink List of 100 influential gay and lesbian people in Britain published by The Independent on Sunday. In 2010, this list described him as a 'National Treasure'.
Numbered among his lovers was Bruce Chatwin. Around 1980, Chatwin contracted HIV. With his condition deteriorating rapidly, Chatwin and his wife went to live in the South of France at the house belonging to Shirley Conran, the mother of his one-time lover, Jasper Conran. There, during his final months, Chatwin was nursed by both his wife and Shirley Conran. He died in Nice in 1989 at age 48.
In December 2015, Conrad married Irish artist and performer Oisin Byrne.[19]
My published books:
