Christopher O'Brien Email & Phone Number

London, England, United Kingdom

London, England, United Kingdom

Responsible for the creative direction, realization and delivery of all Farah brand collections & Collaborations. _ Responsible for implementing brand concepts & strategy to keep Farah at the front of the Menswear Fashion Industry and drive revenue._ Key to developing Farah’s Collaboration program to ensure brand profile is raised through aspirational product, creating marketable story telling campaigns and opening doors to new wholesale partners. Collaborations include Martine Rose, SoccerBible, YMC, Martin Parr & Bianca Saunders._ In an ever-evolving industry I champion to make Farah sustainable – implementing a companywide “Rethink & Reverse” campaign I have looked to support in taking the business green. 75% of the collection is now organic or re-cycled & we strive to make product that does not deplete the worlds natural resources. _In my time at Farah I am proud that I have re-introduced an Archive with over 100 years of storytelling through product and clothing. I have sourced pieces globally and built a comprehensive library that designers, collaborators and retail partners can all reference and re-issue. _Concept driven collections that ensure narrative makes it from drawing board to consumer, I work with multiple departments from retail, ecommerce, marketing to ensure a brand vision is delivered to our customer. I am responsible to drive and inspire key stakeholders throughout the business and to make sure that they understand Farah’s overall brand message as well as seasonal stories._Regular travel to China & Hong Kong, Korea, Bangladesh, Middle East, Europe and Turkey for design/product development, factory relationship & fabric/materials sourcing.

_I oversee all of the designers. Setting seasonal range concepts, mentoring through the design process to ensure the best results, chairing group reviews as well as individual 1-to-1’s and making sure tech packs are of the highest standard when issuing to vendors. _Responsible for creating multiple timelines for each of the different ranges & making sure all key dates through the season are met. _Oversee fabric selections, sketch and range reviews and external graphic and print designers when appropriate. _Creating launch presentations for delivery to the UK sales team, global agents, marketing and press team as well as internal stakeholders. Please see below details of each range:Ranges: Farah Menswear - Farah Collaborations – Farah Jeans - Farah Tailoring - Farah Sports - Farah Classic - Farah Licenses

Senior Designer (interim Creative Director) - Responsible for the direction, execution and aesthetic of the collection: • Ensuring commerciality and newness reflecting the brand’s DNA. • Creating seasonal themes and concepts to deliver seasonal briefs for the design team • Manage and mentor the design team to deliver to the set brief to time, and in full, by conducting regular review meetings and 1-2-1’s• Managing and ensuring the creative direct across multi BU’s and multi product categories in line with the company’s heritage and DNA. • Responsible for outerwear, shirting, trousers, polo shirts, jersey, mid layers, together with overseeing the junior knitwear design team.• Tasked with ensuring full costing is delivered and negotiated by SMS, and all blended margin targets are met.• Look book concept and direction, campaign shoots and art direction/model choices. Ranges: Lyle and Scott Menswear – L&S London Collection – L&S Denim – L&S Junior – L&S Underwear

London

Creative Director/Designer - Own Brand• Delivery of a credible Menswear label.• Research, Design and Develop cohesive range to create overall brand development. • Shown at London Fashion Week as part of Fashion East & bought by international stockists including LN-CC.

Designer – British Heritage Sportswear • Seasonal research based on Creative Directors brief.• Design/Development from initial idea, 2D drawings, experimental execution, and delivery• Global sourcing of all raw materials, fabric, trim, etc.• Editing ideas to make a clear and cohesive collection, creating the pattern for initial toile's, fittings and amendments before final sampling is delivered to factories. • Final specifications and trim sheets prepared for factories using a mixture of CAD and hand drawings.• Coordinating sampling with factories from the initial hand over to SMS ensuring delivery schedule and deadlines.• Knitwear -Liaising with the knitwear factory • Creating production tech packs • Brand development.

Design Advisory – International fashion house• Assist in the research, design and brand development for Design Agency • Research of era's, designers, sub-cultures, colours and artistic references to create mood-boards and design collections. • Creating an in depth research library for the studio. • Assisted in the designing of collections through drawing and development on mannequins to make presentations for clients. • Manage staff and interns at the studio. • Organised production of private orders, liaised with suppliers, manufacturers and sample machinists.

Worked as part of the Armani Jeans line. My role was to shadow senior designers and develop merchandising for the AW 0708 collection. Tasks included: • Creating branded prints for t-shirts, jeans and scarves - a number of which were taken into production. • Designing embroidery work for t-shirts and caps, which were also taken into production. -• Designing labels for both the inside and outside of garments playing on the AJ logo. • Meeting textile companies to source fabrics for the season. • Design a range of toys as shop counter fillers. • Specification drawing of seasons garment.

Assisted on SS06 collection. I worked through the whole season, which included the preparation of catwalk show and production. I gained invaluable insight into how a fashion studio operates. Tasks included:Creating patterns, cutting, sewing and adjusting. Drawing prints, scanning and touching up using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Freehand Drawing layout plans for production. Preparing and cutting fabrics for production.

Masters, Fashion Design Menswear

o My Masters graduate collection was purchased in its entirety by London based concept store LN-CC that subsequently sold out and led.

Ba(Hons), Fashion Design Womenswear