Career
Martyn Bal started his career in 1994 in Antwerp as a teen apprentice to Dirk Bikkembergs (Antwerp six). After completing a Master"s degree at the Royal College of Art in 2000, he was immediately hired to assist Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme. Bal went on to direct the men"s design studio at Burberry, working closely with Christopher Bailey, and design collections for Maison Martin Margiela.
In 2009 Bal launched his own line of menswear, featuring Andreja Pejić and Erik Hassle During this period Bal also developed an exclusive handcrafted eyewear range named "Wowzers" with Cutler and Gross.
From 2010 Bal was charge of the men"s design studio at Versace, reporting directly to Donatella Versace. Here he collaborated with Edward Enninful (currently of West magazine) and Joe McKenna on the styling of the menswear shows.
From February 2013 Martyn Bal was appointed Men"s and Design Director at Roberto Cavalli. Martyn Bal was reporting directly to Roberto Cavalli and was in charge of all menswear style and design, including accessories and licensees.
Bal left his position at Roberto Cavalli in June 2015, after Italian private equity firm Clessidra acquired a 90% stake of the Roberto Cavalli group.
| Celebrity
His designs have been worn by celebrities including David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Prince, Duran Duran, Steven Tyler, Tinie Tempah, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Lewis Hamilton, Mr Hudson, The Kooks, Nicholas Hoult, Lu Yi, Rupert Penry-Jones, among others Martyn Bal was born in Schiedam in 1976, a city in the metropolitan area of Rotterdam. Before discovering fashion, Bal briefly studied architecture.
From 1993 to 1997 he attended "The Technical School Foreign Fashion And Textiles" in The Hague, where he studied both men"s and womenswear, and graduated a fully qualified Tailor and Pattern-maker.
Not having had any formal design education, in 1998 Bal went on to study menswear at the Royal College Of Art in London. Bal graduated in 2000.
