I couldn't have asked for a better testimonial than Bob Dylan parting with his own cash for a pair of my shoes.
Patrick Cox
Show some originality and never wear one designer head to toe.
Shoe design is like architecture - with the finest structure and tight, precise seams, it suits my obsessive neatness.
I'm addicted to chinos the second weather gets warm enough.
I was wondering if the best was behind me, had the high point of my career already happened. Then I saw what Manolo had done, and some of his best work happened after he turned 40.
I like to be playful; I want people to look at what I do and smile.
Rock stars love Cuban heels because a lot of them tend to be diminutive. And I've never met a man who doesn't mind having an extra inch or two anywhere on his body.
I've learnt a lot about construction and flexibility from my time at Geox.
I am like a sponge: I adore reading, watching films, and visiting museums and exhibitions. I am always in search of new things in many spheres.
Elizabeth Hurley rocks. She really rocks.
I've stayed in enough hotels so I really know what works and what doesn't design-wise.
I'm not a shoe snob.
I am a magpie. My eye collects details.
In fashion, my inspiration comes from pop culture - the 1960s and the following years. Whereas in interior design, my influences are much broader.
After selling the business, and the Patrick Cox brand in 2007, I had a three-year non-compete, where I just spent a lot of time hanging all over the world on beaches and having fun.
Archives can be inspiring but overwhelming. You have to forget them - especially when the whole world has been knocking them off. Everyone shops the same flea markets.
Now, I'm older. I don't follow the vagaries of fashion: my look tends to be skinny flat-front trousers with a long-sleeve American Apparel T-shirt and a V-neck cashmere jumper - preferably Loro Piana.
My inspiration for interior design is more historical than traditional.
As a designer, you are not only a designer, you are also a celebrity, an entertainer, and a spokesperson that speaks on behalf of the company. So you need to realize that you have to embrace all those sides.
Copying is a form of self-validation.
Do I miss shoes? I miss the designing, but I don't miss the fashion industry. Those people eat their children.
I love Italy, and that's where I make my own shoes. But the French really do respect designers. Italy is totally different; footwear is an industry. The shoes are all about craft and luxury. French shoes are more about straight lines, and they are way more geometric.
I finished college by July 15th, 1985, and by October 1985, I had a little stand during the trade show which was London Fashion week at the time. My stand was tiny - just 6 square meters in total - and I had my 12 shoes that I designed while in college.
I have a pop sensibility, which I think comes from all those weekends spent in nightclubs.
There is nothing worse than bright lighting - it isn't flattering and makes the glamorous women want to leave.
Most of my holidays are with wonderfully generous friends with houses in the country or the South of France.
If you use your own name as your business brand, keep in mind that if you lose that brand, you have lost your name. And that is a bit of a problem going forward in life. If you decide to make up a name, and if you have lost that name, then who cares. But when it is your name on the products, and you lose it, that is the game changer.
I'm a huge monarchist.
I think a house should reflect the interests and personality of the occupant, but it takes time to gather together the objects one likes around oneself.
I lived in Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon when I was very young, until my mother divorced my father.
I came to London during what was called the second British invasion. The music was from Britain, the fashion was from Britain, everything was from Britain, so I knew I had to be in Britain.
I don't eat at home, ever.
The word 'modern' is a cliche.
I'm kind of the shoe guy.
Wannabe was so huge. So big. So unexpected.
I used to sock hop to 'Crocodile Rock' and stare at those platform boots on the album cover.
I love talking in lira because, suddenly, everything is in billions.
By the time I came out of college, I was fabulous.
It is all about quality of life and being proud of what I do. I need me to be me.
I was never a fashion snob.
