Martyn Bal

Martyn Bal is a Dutch fashion designer. He has worked with Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme, Donatella Versace, Christopher Bailey at Burberry and Roberto Cavalli, and collaborated among many others, with Moncler, Edward Enninful, Cutler and Gross and Marc Quinn.

Martyn Bal
NationalityDutch
EducationRoyal College Of Art
Labels
AwardsMila Schön Design and concept award (1999)

Early life and education

Martyn Bal was born in The Netherlands. Before discovering fashion, Bal briefly studied architecture. Bal was a teen apprentice to Dirk Bikkembergs (Antwerp six). Not having had any formal design education, Bal went on to study fashion design at the Royal College Of Art in London. Bal graduated in 2000 with a Master of Arts degree in menswear.

Career

After graduation in 2000, 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 transgender model and actor Andreja Pejić[1] and then rising Swedish popstar Erik Hassle.[2][3][4][5][6] During this period Bal also developed an exclusive handcrafted eyewear range named 'Wowzers' [7] with Cutler and Gross.

From 2010 Bal was in charge of the men's design studio at Versace, reporting directly to Donatella Versace.[8][9] Here he collaborated with Edward Enninful (currently of British Vogue)[10] and Joe McKenna[11] 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.[12][13][14][15]

After successfully repositioning the menswear brand, Bal left his position at Roberto Cavalli in June 2015, after Italian private equity firm Clessidra[16] 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

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.

References
  1. Schneier, Matthew (5 September 2014). "A Model's Life, Chapter 2". The New York Times.
  2. "Planet Notion » the Duality of Man: Martyn Bal AW10". Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  3. "Martyn Bal - The Face Behind The Fashion - Flux Magazine". Flux Magazine.
  4. Millar, Jamie (18 December 2009). "Why you need to know Martyn Bal". GQ. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015.
  5. Prada, Alan (28 January 2010). "Martyn Bal". menstyle.it (in Italian).
  6. Doran, Sophie (26 January 2011). "12 Must-Know Menswear Designers Behind Luxury Labels". Luxury Society.
  7. Kowalinski, Michael (17 May 2012). "Martyn Bal x Cutler and Gross". Dazed.
  8. "Versace". Vogue. 18 June 2010.
  9. Deeny, Godfrey (21 January 2011). "Men's fashion shows in Milan". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  10. "British Vogue". British Vogue. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  11. "Versace". Vogue UK. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  12. Madsen, Anders Christian (21 January 2015). "was that milan fashion week coming back with a vengeance?". i-D.
  13. "Roberto Cavalli". Vogue. 20 January 2015.
  14. "roberto cavalli spring/summer 15 menswear". i-D. 25 June 2014.
  15. Roberto Cavalli - Categories of Being. Vimeo.
  16. Gaia, Massimo; Wendlandt, Astrid (30 April 2015). "Clessidra buys control of Italian fashion label Cavalli". Reuters UK.
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