Bobby Hillson is a London-based fashion illustrator, former designer of children's clothing, and founder of the

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's became part of t ...

MA Fashion course.

Early life

Hillson, who had studied at

, started out as an illustrator for publications such as ''

Vogue UK British ''Vogue'' is a British fashion magazine published based in London since autumn 1916. It is the British edition of the American magazine ''Vogue'' and is owned and distributed by Condé Montrose Nast. British ''Vogue'' editor in 2012 c ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', and ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' in the early 1950s. In 1954 she attended

Coco Chanel Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel ( , ; 19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. The founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, she was credited in the post-World War I era with popularizing a sporty, c ...

's relaunch show. She is particularly renowned for her 1960s illustration work. In 1969, she launched her childrenswear brand, and in 1972, a little girl's dress and

pinafore A pinafore (colloquially a pinny in British English) is a sleeveless garment worn as an apron. Pinafores may be worn as a decorative garment and as a protective apron. A related term is ''pinafore dress'' (known as a ''jumper'' in Ameri ...

was chosen as the

Dress of the Year The Dress of the Year is an annual fashion award run by the Fashion Museum, Bath from 1963. Each year since 1963, the Museum has asked a fashion journalist to select a dress or outfit that best represents the most important new ideas in contempor ...

Moira Keenan Moira Keenan (1933 – 16 October 1972) was a British fashion and lifestyle journalist. Life and work Keenan grew up in India where her father, Brigadier-General John Keenan served as a British officer of the Indian Army. She and her sisters ...

alongside a

Biba Biba was a London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. Biba was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon. Early years Biba's early years were rather humble, with many of the ou ...

outfit and a young boy's outfit by Burton. As of 2018, no other children's clothes have been selected as Dress of the Year.

Teaching career

Hillson returned to Saint Martin's School of Art to teach on the fashion diploma course in 1956. In the late 1970s she developed and wrote the MA fashion course, with the first cohort of graduates showing in 1980. While at Saint Martin's, Hillson was one of the first people to recognise the potential of

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992, and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashion ...

, offering him a place on the course when he approached her about a cutter's job. When McQueen received an honorary doctorate from Saint Martins, he thanked Hillson first of all. In addition to McQueen, Hillson's former students include

John Galliano John Charles Galliano (born 28 November 1960) is a British fashion designer from Gibraltar. He was the creative director of his eponymous label John Galliano and French fashion houses Givenchy and Dior. Since 2014, Galliano has been the creat ...

, Stephen Jones,

Rifat Özbek Rifat Ozbek ( tr, Rıfat Özbek, ; born 1953) is a Turkish-born fashion designer, known for his exotic, ethnically-inspired outfits. He was named British Designer of the Year in 1988 and 1992. Biography Ozbek was born in Istanbul, Turkey and gr ...

and Sonja Nuttall. She was succeeded as course director of the MA Fashion course by another former student,

Louise Wilson Louise Janet Wilson (23 February 1962 – 16 May 2014) was a British professor of fashion design. Louise Wilson was based at the Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London, where she was the course director of their MA in Fash ...

in 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillson, Bobby Living people Fashion illustrators British fashion designers People from Devon Academics of Central Saint Martins Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Children's clothing designers Year of birth missing (living people)