Fashion is an incredibly tough, unforgiving industry.
Louise Wilson
I've always loved books.
I wear black because I'm a large lady, and I have many exact replicas of the same black outfit.
Now there is tons of information available online. 90% of students rarely look at magazines in their intended format because they're looking at them on a computer screen. They don't understand the layout, so when they come to putting their own portfolios together, they have no spatial awareness.
I had a fabulous childhood. Not many people have an outdoor tennis court that you're allowed to put your ponies on and pretend you're at Hickstead.
Everything is not on a plate for you at Saint Martins - it's about personality, about working out how to do it.
I've always spent money on books. I've always enjoyed handling books - the size, the format. I feel very strongly about original ephemera.
I may sound like a corny bastard, but I love fashion.
I'd rather wear black than bright florals like most fat ladies do.
Fashion's transient - it moves.
In fashion, you're privileged because you're consistently working with a vanguard of youth.
As much as I might decry the students, as much as they're a nightmare, it's a privilege to be among youth.
I always say to students, 'You're never going to have all the skills, but you have to have a skill.'
I think the problem is that fashion has become too fashionable.
What is good work? You just know it when you see it. You just can't explain it.
There's a broad range of fashion: knitwear, textiles, journalism.
The only thing with press attention is that it can be very draining on our energy store.
We always want more, more, more. You see good work; you want it better. We push, push, push.
I'm becoming the Simon Cowell of fashion.
Youth re-energises.
Without art, you don't have society. It underpins so much.
I always thought I was going to be a professional horse rider because I rode horses competitively from zero to 17 years old.
I was very successful at three-day events, point-to-points, Pony Club, and gymkhana. But then I went to college, and because I had really good horses, they weren't going to be left in the field, so they were sold.
I have very tidy cupboards. I do like a cupboard to look nice when you open it, with the labels facing forward.
I have no unhappy memories of my childhood.
I'd love to be charming and softly spoken, but that's never going to happen.
I was going to do business studies in Newcastle because there were a lot of nightclubs. My father said if I went that route, he'd never speak to me again: credit where credit's due.
I never really liked Italy. 'Lots of cement' is my long-standing quote.
At the end of the day, I'm a very boring academic, bogged down with academia and structure and delivering an education.
In the past, you'd have one magazine, it would arrive monthly, and that was your magazine. You'd devour it; you'd absorb all the knowledge in it; you'd read it over and over again.
I've always believed that you have to have the skills before you destroy the skills. If you want to be crude, be crude, but don't be crude because you don't know how to do it, because you're not perfect at drawing and pattern-cutting.
A lot of fashion might seem boring, but it is actually quite fun: the inside, the outside, the silhouette... All the different finishes. That's a skill.
I believe intellect is needed in order to develop any creative output and that intellect alone is not enough!
Elegance for one society is not elegance for another. It's in the eyes of the beholder.
I try to stop my students doing random things on the Internet or putting work online. It doesn't get them jobs. This concept of being noticed, I don't know what it brings you.
My students are noticed by the people I respect from the quality of their work.
There's lots of bad things about teaching, but the really good thing is that you get to be around young people - irritating as they are.
The press always pick on British fashion, but I don't think that there are more successful young designers than in Paris or Milan. It's all a myth.
I was born in Cambridgeshire and moved to Scotland when I was seven.
We had six horses, and I would compete. Jumping. Cabinets full of cups. I always won.
I love to-do lists.
In 'Who's Who,' my hobbies are listed as eating, sleeping, and voicing one's opinion. Not necessarily the right opinion, but it's mine.
People think I'm rude. I'm not rude; I'm just not networking. It's just honesty.
Show-offy, I could sometimes be accused of.
I can't imagine taking up running.
Most designers don't dress in fashion. They dress in an anonymous way so that people are just judging their work.
I still believe that education is about provoking some kind of original, creative thought.
I never know what I want, but always know what I don't want.
I don't see why you wouldn't cry when you're in an intense environment.
I love hard work, energy, feeling involved.
