Post-Collection...first bit

I'm often asked what my collections are about. Its the question I dread the most, especially after a collection as press starts to filter in and the curiosity of the bloggers get the better of me. Its not that I dont want to tell them, or that I dont know, its just that I feel completely deflated, and for those who are in the know, know that I'm that type that falls in between hyper-excited-cum-mouth-full-of-teeth. You know what I mean: big silent type who can't shut up when he gets going!

I'm at that spot when I'm almost permanently daydreaming about the next collection. Somehow, I know already what the feel is, what I want it to look like. My method of working always starts with the music, and even though it might not be the music I use in a show, it sets the mood and I will constantly cross-reference the collection with it.

I grew up in the 80's when British fashion was starting to get really amazing again. EVERYTHING that designers like Westwood, Galliano, Chalayan and later designers like Mcqueen, Chalayan again, Copperwheat Blundel (does anyone remember Arkadius?!), et al. reeked of that great anti-establishment musk that tittilated the radicals (even of the, and particularly of the armchair variety, middle-class art students and/or other type) and horrified the right. What those chaps did with piercings, tampon strings, semen-filled vial jewellery, S/M diamond covered mouth plugs, iron filings, bumsters and corsets, echoed and inspired no end how important it was to be radical and clever in order to move fashion forward. You had to get off your arse and make something amazing, something incredible, driven by a crazy desire to change the world and shout about it. Even Stella did radical whilst at Chloe with her gold chain collection! Ya, whilst at Chloe. That is British fashion.

(ps. I dont want to get too nostalgic because you- know-who might be listening in. And you know how critical you-know-who is about nostalgia and fashion. Also, you know how we all want and crave you-know-whos blessing, so I dont want to risk the delete button on her laptop, even though you-know-who loves 90s daywear. That is British fashion now.)