You have to always work against what you did before, and even against your taste. I love things that age well – things that don’t date, that stand the test of time and that become living examples of the absolute best. Men don’t want another man to look at their woman because they don’t know how to handle it. I didn’t consider myself a fashion designer at all at the time of punk. I was just using fashion as a way to express my resistance and to be rebellious. I came from the country, and by the time I got to London, I considered myself to be very stupid. It was my ambition to understand the world I live in. I would like to be a one-man multinational fashion phenomenon.
There are always protests, whether you do something good or bad. Even if you do something beneficial, people say you do it because it’s advertising. It’s a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world. I sometimes feel that a pattern is almost a fashion statement in itself. I don’t care about money. I really don’t care. I just want to do what I do. It’s sometimes said that I’m rebellious and I do things to push people’s buttons, but I just like the challenge.
Attention to detail is of utmost importance when you want to look good. Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable. Fashion is made to become unfashionable. I was the first person to have a punk rock hairstyle. Money is the most corrosive aspect of life today because it means that all attention to detail is forgotten.
When I was young, I lived like an old woman, and when I got old, I had to live like a young person. First I made a dress because I was pregnant and I wanted to be the most beautiful pregnant woman. Then I made a sweater because I wanted to have one that wasn’t like anyone else’s. Go to a place where you’re not going to be stressed, because a honeymoon itself can be a stressful thing. Fashion fades, only style remains the same. Jeans represent democracy in fashion.
If you wear clothes that don’t suit you, you’re a fashion victim. You have to wear clothes that make you look better. Fashions fade, style is eternal. Confidence. If you have it, you can make anything look good. Men have got more of a discerning eye. They appreciate cut and details, things that aren’t so obvious. They like things that have cachet and gentlemanliness. There are only three things I can do – make a dress, decorate a house, and entertain people.