You know who David Koma is, right? That's him, above. He is the just graduated from the Saint Martin’s MA designer dude who in the space of a week had not only the most powerful female musician in the world wear one his dresses, but this followed the “nation’s sweetheart” Cheryl Cole (currently the most famous woman in Britain) also wearing one of this dresses. One wore it well (Beyonce, shown wearing it, top), the other did not (mainly because the metalwork on it weighed the dress down).
ANYWAY. Look, this isn’t why I am writing. All the stuff about David being the Next Big Thing has been said. But, still, he and I were chewing the fat the other day, talking about what it feels like to suddenly be pushed into the limelight when it is something you have wanted for ages. His reaction: “Of course it feels amazing, but the stress!!!"
David, who is 24 and was raised in St Petersburg, told me he was too nervous to actually watch the MTV music awards and celebrate seeing his dress being beamed to an audience of millions. That he went out with his friend and waited for a call to say Yay or Nay. It was too much. He also told me Beyonce’s people found the dress in the September issue of V magazine, modelled by Lady Gaga. It’s gratifying to learn that Beyonce is just like us pointing to a dress in a magazine and saying “Want that one...”
What surprised me most, and it has to be said what Koma also found incredible - having not actually met the Diva in person - is her dress size. Beyonce, the bootylicious, super-curvaceous woman who made many grown men (and many grown women, me included) lose sixty seconds of their lives each time they watched her bogleing in the Single Ladies video, is a UK dress size 6 to 8. Yep. She is tiny. “It’s incredible but true,” says David. "I sent a size 6-8 dress. A model size."
With David Koma what we have seen is just the beginning of what will hopefully become a body of work that will make him a designer to take seriously. “I want to show people there is more to me,” he told me. “I am not about dressing celebrities; I am about dressing strong inspirational women, that is my focus. I want to show good fashion season after season. I want to build a solid background.”
Well, David, you’ve got our attention now. But on the Beyonce front, a few hours after hearing this factoid on her dress size, I am still finding it hard to believe.
Why is this I wonder? I think its because I thought Beyonce was a size 10-12. And that she repped the more curvy women out there.
On reflection I feel both slightly let down by this, and rather inspired. Let down becasue Beyonce is the same dress size as all the "skinnies" despite her curves. Inspired becasue you can look curvaceous and strong, no matter what size you are. What do you think?
Photo credits:
Beyonce: PGR Sven Hoogerhuis
Dabvid Koma: Telegraph Group