Nationality Dutch Occupation Fashion designer | Name Martyn Bal Education Royal College of Art | |
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Born 19 March 1976 (age 48) ( 1976-03-19 ) Schiedam Awards Mila Schon Design and concept award 1999 | ||
Martyn Bal (born 19 March 1976) is a Dutch fashion designer.
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Early life and education
Martyn Bal was born in Schiedam in 1976, a city in the metropolitan area of Rotterdam. Before discovering fashion, Bal briefly studied architecture. From 1993 to 1997 he attended the Technische school voor mode en kleding ("Technical School for Fashion and Textiles) in The Hague, where he studied both men's and womenswear, and graduated a fully qualified Tailor and Pattern-maker. Bal started his career in 1994 in Antwerp as a teen apprentice to Dirk Bikkembergs (Antwerp six). Not having had any formal design education, in 1998 Bal went on to study menswear at the Royal College Of Art in London. Bal graduated in 2000 with a Master's of Art degree in menswear.
Career
After his graduation, Bal was immediately hired to assist Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme. He went on to direct the men's design studio at Burberry, working closely with Christopher Bailey, and design collections for Maison Martin Margiela.
In 2009 Bal launched his own line of menswear, featuring Andreja Pejić and Erik Hassle. During this period Bal also developed an exclusive handcrafted eyewear range named 'Wowzers' with Cutler and Gross.
From 2010 Bal was in charge of the men's design studio at Versace, reporting directly to Donatella Versace. Here he collaborated with Edward Enninful (currently of W magazine) and Joe McKenna on the styling of the menswear shows.
From February 2013 Martyn Bal was appointed Men's Style and Design Director at Roberto Cavalli. Martyn Bal was reporting directly to Roberto Cavalli and was in charge of all menswear style and design, including accessories and licensees.
Bal left his position at Roberto Cavalli in June 2015, after Italian private equity firm Clessidra acquired a 90% stake of the Roberto Cavalli group. Since then Martyn Bal has continues to work on projects as a senior style and design consultant and most recently collaborated with New York based denim and leather brand BLK DNM, originally founded by Johan Lindeberg. Here Bal worked on launching an all made in Italy premium denim and outerwear capsule for the brand. He also collaborated with renowned contemporary artist Marc Quinn and Jesse Draxler
Style | Celebrity
Bal's collection are known for its romanticism and its slick precision, tinged with duality and bold attitude. His designs have been featured on magazine covers and worn by celebrities including David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Prince, Duran Duran, Alex Turner, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tinie Tempah, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Lewis Hamilton, Mr Hudson, The Kooks, Nicholas Hoult, Lu Yi, Rupert Penry-Jones, Fabio Novembre, among others.