For this Belgian designer, son of a Walloon mother and a Tunisian father, the expression of fashion appeals to the pleasure of the senses. In a human and hedonistic approach, materials and colours are judiciously blended to be pleasing to the eye as well as to the touch. Sami Tillouche’s experience as an assistant to Romeo Gigli for the men’s collections proved to be decisive for his future. That was when he decided to devote himself to men’s fashion, at the same time asserting his taste for knitwear. His ideal wardrobe features shirts in rich oriental silks accompanied by vests and jumpers in contrapuntal shades. The finest tailoring techniques go into the cuts of his jackets and topcoats. This former student of the Brussels Conservatory of Dramatic Arts knows how to avoid monotony, the perennial pitfall in men’s fashion, by playing on layering and the diversity of the garment’s components.

Sami Tillouche has won many awards, including Belgium’s Canette d’Or in 1989, and the Hyères Festival International des Arts de la Mode competition. His first
collection for men was presented in Paris in 1994, made possible by an ANDAM fellowship. After six collections under his own name, he decided to suspend this aspect of his activities.

Tillouche has created men’s collections for Guy Laroche and Joseph Tricot, collaborated with many design offices, was consultant for women’s knitwear at Kookaï and worked on both the men’s and women’s lines of the renowned luxury knitwear label Malo. At the Casabo trade fair in January 2000, Sami Tillouche launched a new collection of luxury knitwear in sophisticated colours.

After having been consultant for Cacharel, he is now knitwear designer for Lanvin.