draw. I lost all 3 of them in 2003 when I lent them to a college, but they were one of the most enjoyable pieces of work I’ve ever made, and pretty unusual behavior for a daughter’s boyfriend.
Losing them does not of course diminish that enjoyment or peculiarity, in fact it perhaps enhances it.
I also did a group catwalk show in Iceland once on a glacier at midnight that was a great experience. The backstage of the catwalk was a cave carved out of ice, and it was so cold I thought we’d all die there. Vivienne Westwood’s mother was there, shivering around a burning oil-drum campfire with half naked Icelandic models. It was the most euphoric experience, made richer by the fact that I have few documen- tary photos to remember it by. Real memory is often more vivid than the souvenir photos.
When you took your first steps in the industry, did you have any particular goals and aims? Have you achieved (some or all of) them?
When I was 16 I stood on a brass disc out- side the Nôtre Dame cathedral in Paris and made 3 wishes:
to get a 1st class honours degree in fashion from the University of Northumbria, to study a Masters degree at the Royal College of Art in London, and to be a millionairre by the time im 30. Fucked up on the last one. Showing at London Fashion Week on-sched- ule in the big BFC tents was a huge goal at the time, but all goals shrink in size dramati- cally when you surpass them. You have to keep finding new goals to aim at, not repeat old ones again and again.
Did you receive a formal design education?
Yes, I studied for 8 years. But in retrospect I’d be tempted to forgo all the debts and take a loooooong running jump at a career target, and just dive straight into business at 18 funded by a shop job. At 16 I was much smarter and more instinctive than I am now, but I assumed I needed this rite of passage to validate my design work. But of course, you don’t have to go to college to be an artist. Unschooled thinking is raw and instinctive, and education can often blunt your spon- taneity and stop you learning by your own mistakes. It’s hard to be experimental and learn by trial and error when you’re being assessed at every step and offered sweet- ener incentives, carrots and sticks. I was also schooled into debt. I entered university in the first year they introduced Student Loans. Of course I accepted all the loans and overdrafts offered to me, easy money is like crack cocaine. It’s a terrible way to start out in life being shouldered with debt, it’s ruinous.
You seem like a very generous and open person - many of your past projects have revolved around educating and spreading different knowledge about fashion in order to change the way it is perceived. You also lecture at the RCA - why is the future of fashion something you are particularly passionate about?
I love being around young people, or people of any age that are eager to learn and chal- lenge.
I love to challenge their thinking, see their confidence grow, and watch the twigs snap and imaginations spark. People just seem to need permission to step outside conven- tional thinking.
When you teach people your techniques, skills and ideas, you release them from the limitations of ownership. They test drive and
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extend them, pushing them in new directions and make counter-moves. It’s collaborative, it’s exciting, you never stop learning. So the future is always something you seem to be facing with anticipation, because everyone is excited to unleash their new found skills on unexpecting audiences. It’s always a brave new world of new possibilites for change.
What’s the worst job you’ve ever worked? Office cleaning at the Deprtment of Health and Social Security in Worthing. I was sacked for eating a peach.
Where is your favorite place to spend time - anywhere in the world?
The sea. I was born next to the sea and lived by the coast most of my life until I came to London. I find large expanses of water com- forting. There is always one direction you can’t walk in, you just have to sit there and look at the vanishing point on the horizon, and imagine one day maybe going the other side of it and looking back. All the seas are connected and on the move, so it doesn’t matter which sea, it’s all the same thing.
Do you read a lot? If so, what’s the most memorable or brilliant book/article you have recently come across?
I don’t read many books any more, though I used to. I read 2 or 3 newspapers a day, and write lots, but never anything of great length.
My concentration comes and goes. Oh look there’s a chimpanzee.
The most memorable book I have read is ‘Nausea’ by Jean-Paul Sartre.
The scariest book I have ever read is ‘Amei- can Psycho’ by Brett Eastern-Ellis. I once read the English Dictionary cover to cover, that’s a pretty good read.
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