Michael Howells

Michael Dennis Howells (13 January 1957 – 19 July 2018 ) was an English art designer who worked across film, fashion, theatre and television.

Early life Michael Dennis Howells was born in Droxford, Hampshire, on 13 January 1957. At the time of his birth, his father worked in Malawi; the younger Howells spent his first years there in and New Zealand before returning to England and growing up in Gloucestershire, where both his parents were from. The family lived in Stroud. photographers Mario Testino and Nick Knight on editorial and advertising including many editions of Vogue and advertising campaigns for Dior, Burberry and Dolce and Gabbana. He also designed Stephen Jones's award-winning V&A exhibition 'Hat's An Anthology by Stephen Jones' in 2009.

Film credits include Bright Young Things, Shackleton, About Time Too, and Miss Julie. Howells' theatre design credits include Ed Hall's acclaimed ‘Chariots of Fire’ [costumes], MSM/DV8 Physical Theatre at The Royal Court, 'Towards Poetry' for The Royal Ballet, 'Derdemon' for the Statsoper, Berlin, 'Julius Tomb’ for Mark Baldwin Company, and 'Constant Speed', celebrating Einstein's Centenary, for the Rambert Ballet, 2005, where he was made Associate Designer at Rambert in 2009.

Howells was the Creative Director behind the iconic Christmas trees at Claridges, where each year a fashion designer creates a tree. He created the inaugural tree in 2009 for John Galliano at Christian Dior, and in 2010 for Dior, 2019 for Sir Jony Ives and Marc Newson, and in 2017 for Karl Lagerfeld.

Until 2017, Howells was the creative director of the Port Eliot Festival.

He received a BAFTA nomination for his work on Shackleton.

Personal life and death Howells was in a relationship with composer David von Richthofen until von Richthofen's death in 1993.

Howells had Marfan syndrome, which contributed to his tall height of . He died from a heart condition related to Marfan syndrome on 19 July 2018, at Hammersmith Hospital in London.