George David Hodgson is a Fashionpreneur, Public Speaker and Mental Health Campaigner.

“George is the mental health spokesperson of our generation”

Jacquelyn Guderley
Founder of MNTL HLTH

About

Described as ‘the mental health spokesperson of our generation’ George David Hodgson is a fashionpreneur, public speaker and mental health campaigner known for his incredible honesty and no-filter approach to opening up about his suffering. In 2014 he founded the award-winning fashion brand 'Maison de Choup' out of his severe anxiety and OCD episode. The brand has been recognised by the likes of Vanity Fair, which referred to Maison de Choup as 'The Fashion Brand with a Mental Health Cause at its Heart'. It also won the British Fashion Startup Award for such an inspiring story. 

Since launching Maison de Choup, George has gone on to do public speeches and workshops in schools, colleges and universities about how he started his fashion brand from such a dark place. He tells the story of his battle with severe Anxiety and OCD, not being able to leave his bedroom for 3 years and washing his hands up to 50x a day to running a fashion brand full time. He is incredibly honest about his suffering and talks about how everyone should be more open about their mental health, especially young men.

George works with YoungMinds as a Youth Advisor on the Amplified programme giving workshops to professionals, attending NHS strategy meetings and co-creating resources. He is also a Youth Ambassador for MQ Charity. In August 2017, he became a qualified Youth Mental Health First Aider and received his MHFA Certificate of Completion.

In August 2017, he became a qualified Youth Mental Health First Aider and received his MHFA Certificate of Completion.

George has appeared on BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat, Radio 2, Radio 5 Live and Radio 6 Music as well as appearing on BBC News at 6/10pm with Hugh Pym and BBC Breakfast.

In April 2019 BBC Three released an Amazing Humans documentary surrounding George’s story on iPlayer. Watch it here

George also presented an award at the Tenner Challenge Ceremony to the most inspiring young individuals in May 2019.

As well as running Maison de Choup and public speaking around the country, he co-hosts the Maison de Choup Talkin’ About Podcast with his sister Charlotte, of which the brand is named after.

“The designer using fashion to raise mental health awareness

George, 22, started experiencing panic attacks six years ago. At the time, he felt really alone and isolated, thinking that nobody else could be going through the same thing as he was. So, George started drawing sketches as a way of trying to understand his anxiety - and that’s when he thought about putting those designs on T-shirts. He then set up a clothing label to raise awareness of - and funds for - mental health, and he now collaborates with others suffering from conditions like depression and eating disorders, all with the hope of encouraging people to have open conversations about mental health.“