Tender is the Night

Gavin Pierre Medford

Gavin Pierre Medford was born in London as the youngest of four children.

He was an attentive child, who delighted in observing his mother and sister’s style, the clothes and accessories they wore and began designing day dresses and evening gowns from the age of six.

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Having a mother and grandmother who designed and made their own clothes and an uncle as a bespoke tailor was an excellent foundation for Medford. He decided from a very early stage that his future lie within the fashion industry.

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Design and construction became second nature to him and having been taught embroidery and knitting by his mother and crochet by his sister, he found influence in many aspects of the creative industry from contemporary and conceptual design to melodramatic and theatrical costume.

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At 17, he attended the first of three courses at the University of the Arts London - London College of Fashion. First Fashion Award followed by the National Diploma specialising in embroidery and surface texture, finally the BA Hons in Fashion Design and Technology, specialising in Menswear Tailoring. 

A few months after graduating, he beat hundreds to become a finalist for the Young Designer of the Year Award presented by Zandra Rhodes. 

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Gavin Pierre Medford has always been inspired by the past, movies of all genres especially historical/period dramas and mystical/fantasy movies. He delights in searching for the underlying themes within subjects, the hard edged, the dark and melancholy to the beautiful and romantic. He has a passion for researching and adapting historical costume for wearability as well as modifying historical pattern cutting techniques to create an exciting and unique silhouette. 

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Past themes have been as diverse as aspects of the Ridley Scott movie ‘Blade Runner’, the 1910 Parisian designer Erte, Hans Christian Anderson’s story ‘The Emperors New Clothes’ and 17th century English gentlemen being hunted by vampires!

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Gavin Pierre Medford has also travelled the world designing outfits and styling music videos for pop and rock groups, designed red carpet outfits for various celebrities and won awards for his work. In 2006 he was nominated for four awards at the UK Urban Fashion Awards and won Best Street Wear. Subsequently in 2007 he was also nominated and won the award for Best Menswear of 2007. In 2008 he received a nomination for Best New Designer at UK Fashion Awards. In 2009 and 2010 he was nominated for Best Fashion Designer at the BEFFTA Awards. 

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Since 2011 he has been showcasing pieces in a travelling exhibition celebrating the little black dress from Coco Chanel to the present day. His dresses are shown next to established design houses such as Vivienne Westwood, Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Issey Miyake and Comme des Garcons. 

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His garments have reflected, like everything before them, his training, his commitment to hard work and excellence, his originality and his sense of fun.