Born the second youngest of eight children to a baker and housewife on may 26, 1967 in Galway village of Ahascragh, Ireland, with its population of just 500. In 1985 Philip Treacy studied at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin before snagging a scholarship to London’s Royal College of Art in 1988. There he specialised in hat design, fashioning his first efforts from bits and pieces picked up in local flea markets.

While a student he started to work with established designers such as Rifat Ozbek, John Galliano and Victor Edelstein. His graduation show in 1991 caused a fashion sensation.

In 1991 the young designer established his own company, philip treacy ltd, and started his collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel. He has designed hats for haute couture houses such as Givenchy, Alexander Mc Queen, Valentino, Helmut Lang, Thierry Mugler, Anna Molinari and Versace.

In 1993 Philip Treacy presented the first of his annual catwalk shows at london fashion week. Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Stella Tennant strode down the catwalk for the first professional Philip Treacy fashion show.

In 1997 and 1999, his collections were also shown in New York. Since then he has gone on to show once a year the autumn / winter collections both in London and in New York.

Treacy went on to win the title of Accessory Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 1991, 1992 and 1993, and then again in 1996 and 1997.