Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm completely dyslexic - it's the writing part. People read what I've written, and they have no idea what I'm trying to say.
During the 1990s, luxury became something exclusive and elitist. I think fashion got lost. It forgot about craft and culture.
When I was younger, we went to Ibiza a lot because my parents bought an apartment there. I feel like that has always stuck with me.
I've always loved collecting arts and crafts - I have pieces by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and William Morris at home in east London.
I love the immediacy of Instagram. My feed really is my train of thought. If I'm really excited about something, I'll just put it up.
I always try to design fashion that is interesting and innovative, and I like to break traditions and challenge people's expectations.
For me, menswear is an experimental ground to play with something. There is scope to be gained there - you can create a new normality.
My grandfather, who's still alive, has always been involved in art, antiques, and things like that. I think I learned so much from him.
Luxury stores are such a difficult thing because, ultimately, their purpose is to sell, but I do think you can get more out of a store.
Acting is about portraying something... that dedication or learning the script of it is really important in really getting to know a topic.
When I was a kid, I remember the fear of going into big brand stores. You didn't want to go in because you felt like you couldn't afford anything.
I think fashion shows are a full stop. You need a point where there's no return, and fashion shows create a 'That's it; that's the finishing line.'
I've realised that when fashion is really good and really challenges and takes a risk, it is incredibly artistically powerful. It makes people dream.
My parents are huge influences on me. My mother was an English teacher. My father played professional rugby and coached rugby for the Irish rugby team.
Part of the reason Loewe has diversified into so many other categories is because what we can't do any more is simply say, 'Here's more stuff you can buy.'
In London, what I do on the weekend is be a person and have my own life. In Paris, it is going from this hotel to the office and back again. But I love it.
The first thing I do in the morning is have an espresso - straight up - and read the papers. I like 'The Independent,' 'The Times,' and the 'Financial Times.'
When I visit any cathedral, it reminds me of being with my grandparents. They weren't particularly religious, but my grandfather was obsessed with architecture.
I think I am obsessed with Lucie Rie. I love the way she collaborated with Miyake, who for me is probably the most important fashion designer of the 20th century.
If you're going to collect things because you think they have value, then don't collect. For me, you have to be obsessed, and there has to be something educational.
Working with Uniqlo is probably the most incredible template of democracy in fashion, and it's nice that my design can be accessible to anyone, on all different levels.
Ultimately, I think to be successful in fashion, you have to turn into the most incredible HR person. It's about politics. I'm massaging egos and keeping everyone happy.
I grew up in Northern Ireland, in the middle of nowhere, and when you are poor, you are really poor. And when you are rich, you are very rich. This is not a new phenomenon.
I read up a lot about ceramics and collect them, but when you make something, it's very difficult to like it. I quite like appreciating and supporting what someone else does.
I feel like if you have balance in life, you have to be consumed by your job because, ultimately, it will never be a job; it will never be something that you feel you're working on.
My brother and sister were very sporty. They all did rugby. I was very into performing arts. I went to the National Youth Music Theatre. I was one of those singing, clapping children.
One thing I think is great is that if you use social media really well - in a natural, personal way - you can kind of see what's missing. You can see when you're bored of something or of someone.
I would say I work very emotionally: I have a very compulsive way of working, where I love something to the moment I am sick of it. I have no addiction outside of work, so my addiction is that process.
You always need a textural landscape. I think that's what fashion is about, and I think when you come to a brand and you're trying to re-instill its history, the history only comes through being personal.
I always think the great thing about shirting is that it goes with jeans, and jeans are probably the most modern, functional garment that ever existed. That is what is so great about shirting - it is an up-play-down-play.
As a child growing up in Ireland, you would have to go to Dublin if you wanted to go to the luxury brands. And I remember my mother being too uncomfortable to go into some of those stores. I want to get rid of the barrier.
I find it very difficult to see the boundary between womenswear and menswear. It's bizarre the ways in which society reacts; they find it difficult to comprehend seeing parts of the body on a man. I think it's fascinating.
We have this perceived illusion of what the fashion designer does. As an industry, we make it out that this one individual changes the entire face of the earth. I have never said 'me'; it's always 'we.' I am just the big salesman.
We need to articulate luxury differently. We live in the world of the 'like' culture. As a society, we're consuming so much imagery, it's like gorging on sugar, and the only way to find depth in a 'like' culture is by presenting the unknown.
When I started at Loewe, I took a year out before we did a collection because I felt we needed to work out all the fundamentals. The pencils, the door handles, the style of the press release, the stone of the buildings, the choice of photographer.
I always love to look at something that I couldn't make, because I feel it's enlightening. It means you are not invincible: you can respect something and look up to it and go, 'Wow!' It's a skill that I don't have, but I can understand the merit of it.
I never set out to work on the concept of androgyny. For me, it was more about trying to find a wardrobe that would fundamentally appeal to both men and women: Trying to find the right shirt, the right jeans, the right trouser - but on different landscapes.
I try to live my life free of regrets, but I do have one style regret that makes me laugh and cringe at the same time. Mum used to dress my brother and me in bright neon bike pants and big baggy t-shirts that were so long you could barely see our bike pants.
The problem with me and TV shows is once I start watching them, I have to watch them all because I'm so impatient. I need the entire series to be on TV, and then I'll sit all day and watch the entire thing. So I did that with 'Homeland,' and I did that with 'Veep.'
I think ceramics are so amazing because they're incredibly educational - you can buy something made in the 14th century, and it looks like it was made yesterday. There's something to be learned there, and ceramics can tell you the history of the time because they're functional vessels, ultimately.
When I first came to Wakefield Cathedral, I thought, 'How does man conceive to build something like this?' It's a building that has transcended time over the centuries, and you appreciate the magnitude of humankind's power and vision. When you're inside, you feel as though the rest of the world doesn't exist.
Fashion is an archetype: you're trying to build a silhouette, and that is very similar to building up a building because you're trying to create a new structure, a new proportion, a new shape, and you're using a material to cut which is a bit mathematical. That idea of finding something new in terms of proportion is something that drives me.