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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Richard N (sitting on green chair backwards, 2 faces)

2000-2010
Howard Tangye

mixed media on cardboard (sheet: 84.0 cm x 59.0 cm)

Richard Nicoll (1977‒2016), fashion designer, was born in London but spent much of his childhood in Perth. Aged seventeen he returned to London and enrolled at Central Saint Martins college, initially undertaking a foundation course in sculpture, ceramics, and fashion. He completed a BA in menswear design there and then did a Masters in womenswear under revered professor Louise Wilson. His entire graduate collection was purchased by Dolce & Gabbana. After graduating, he worked for Lanvin and Louis Vuitton in Paris before launching his own label in London in 2005. He made his London Fashion Week debut in 2006 and presented his collections there every year up until 2015, counting Kylie Minogue, Keira Knightley, Lily Allen, and Sienna Miller among the devotees of his designs. He also collaborated with artist/designer Linder Sterling to create costumes for ballet and dance, produced capsule collections for brands including Topshop and Sportsgirl, and was a creative director at Cerruti and later Jack Wills. Named Best Young Designer at the Elle Style Awards during London Fashion Week 2009, Nicoll's other accolades include three Association pour le Développement des Arts de la Mode prizes and twice being a British Fashion Council Vogue Fashion Fund finalist. After closing his own label in 2015 Nicoll returned to Australia and settled in Sydney. He died there, aged 39, in October 2016, shortly before he was due to take up the role of creative director at Adidas.

Gift of the artist 2023
© Howard Tangye

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Howard Tangye (age 52 in 2000)

Richard Nicoll (age 23 in 2000)

Subject professions

Architecture, design and fashion

Donated by

Howard Tangye (1 portrait)

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

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