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Giles Deacon on why Victoria Beckham's success is a shock and just how model-of-the-moment Cara Delevingne made it so big

The formidable fashion force that is Giles Deacon shares his style tips and reveals all about his famous friends as he teams up with DFS for a special campaign...

Giles Deacon has dressed everyone from Sarah Jessica Parker to Victoria Beckham but his fashion powers aren't only performed on the red carpet.



He made style magic at his Spring Summer 2014 show during London Fashion Week roping in friend and model-of-moment Cara Delevingne - to hit the runway for him.

"Cara is loved by the fashion industry," Giles reveals, "But she works with it very healthily. She’s very adaptable which makes her supremely exciting to work with, she can be a woman or a fun kid.”

But the real secret to Cara's success lies in social media, Giles adds: "Her popularity is interesting because she's one of the first British models to reach a huge number of people proportionately through Twitter. She's fresh and people don't like things being given a veneer."



While he is keen to talk about Cara, Giles’ thoughts are fixated on his catwalk creations for next season that were full of feminine flare from feathers to flirty pinks and hot lips to minimal prints.

He says: "It was girlie with a sense of grunge, the models had rough hair and were all walking in adidas gazelles."

But the designer is quick to stress that the dresses with trainer look is something we can all wear whatever our age.

Not convinced? Allow Giles to explain: "When I used to go to Milk Bar as a student I remember Bjork wearing trainers with really posh old Alexandra McQueen dresses and it had this preciousness about it, it looks really fresh and means you're out to have fun."

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Bjork being Giles' inspiration is nothing new, music plays a prominent part in his design, "I get inspiration from absolutely anything and everything," he says. "I listen to an awful lot of music everything to electronic to classical."

Someone who knows a thing of two about designing is Victoria Beckham, who Giles praises: "Victoria does super work, I have no problem with a celebrity or anybody doing a design collection so long as they put the effort in. Victoria knows exactly what she wants and she's very ambitious with it, she's making Victoria world."



While Giles is hugely supportive of his fashion friends, he did admit he didn’t predict the success of Victoria's label.

He says: "I would never have thought nine years ago that after New York Fashion Week people would say the most impressive shows were Victoria Beckham and the Olsen twins - I would not have put money on that."

While we can't all be blessed with Victoria's design skills our wardrobes can certainly be injected with some fashion fillers, and Giles was happy to share his tips on livening up our autumn winter wardrobes.

He says: "This season I love the lush bleach and blonde colours, particularly on coats and silk dresses and they work equally well on dark skins and very fair skins. I'm a bit over prints now but I love big beanie hats they're going to be a great hit!"



And when it comes to the key items every woman has to own Giles suggests a pair of black patent boots with a good heel, a great coat and a statement piece of jewellery. Giles may only deal in designer but he's all too aware of the shopping horrors on the high street where we buy clothes we never wear.

To try his best to prevent this he says: "You don't need many clothes each season, you need less items but stronger ones. When you're going into a season make a list of what you want and need." But don't stop there, Giles suggests you do your homework: "Have a look at fashion magazines and then decide if you want a wool coat or an army coat or whatever."

Although he won't allow you to buy the first one you find, "Have a look at items," he adds. "See what you like, try them on and get more focused things rather than rushing around and grabbing things."



To make online shopping less stressful, Giles suggests buying items in three sizes and sending back the two that don't fit, although this is no substitute for feeling clothes in the flesh.

He said: "It's important to go to stores and try things on something that you see in real life can often be very different on the screen."

When he's not dishing out style advice Giles has unveiled the limited edition 'Lipgloss' sofa he designed for DFS as well as launching the new DFS Design Foundation a innovative student bursary scheme which gives final-year undergraduate designers a kick-start to their careers.





So what advice would Giles give to them? "Be yourself, work hard, enjoy it and do your thing. You're never going to please everybody. If you want to do things in a different way go and do it! Henry Holland has been phenomenal in the way he does that. We need more of that very sharp, savvy and accessible eccentricity!"

The 'Lipgloss' sofa is priced at £3,500, footstools priced at £750, available at DFS.co.uk