We design for a whole range of ages and body types, and we always have done. What's great about us is that the common thing that they all like is an accessible eccentricity of an accessible flamboyance, and I think the super thing about that, it isn't age-specific: you're not only dressing 25-year-olds; we're dressing women from 25 to 65+.

Pretty much hated school. I never really found my footing. I just didn't like lessons.

People don't necessarily realise that there can be just as much work on a quiet jacket as an overblown gown.

I liked the fact DAKS was an unknown quantity. It's more like Gucci before Tom Ford got there. There's a lot you can do.

For me, green is more about cycling than recycling.

The natural world is a source of inspiration.

I'll spend a couple of days in Paris, a couple back in London, some time at the factory in Italy... I like travelling, but it can be a struggle to get home for weekends.

I don't like acres of faceless girls walking.

There are some great skinny girls, but it's about characters, isn't it? That's what I find attractive. People who've had interesting lives and tell you something that you don't know or are really good fun.

If you've invested money in buying a piece, you don't want it to just disintegrate. We all have that first wash anxiety, when that great t-shirt you've just bought shrinks away to nothing.

I don't believe in a recipe for success. You have to work hard; you may not always get it right - you have to bounce back from situations, and you have to be really focused and determined. It's important to have fun as well. Work shouldn't be a torture.

Single-sex private schools, especially in the middle of nowhere on a bleak hill in County Durham - I don't think they make sense.

With couture, it means I get to show fall in July with delivery in September. My clients will be getting their pieces in season.

It's important to offer well-thought-out pieces at lower prices.

With couture, the great thing is that each piece has its own character, and you have space to explore and continue themes season after season.

That era of designers being away with the fairies is gone... You've got to live in the real world.

I liked natural history. I liked the outdoors. And I found the sea quite interesting.

My mother was a housewife. My father worked in the agriculture business, but they were very encouraging about everything. When I said I wanted to do art, they were very supportive.

I'm often mistaken for a man.

I see myself as the female John Cleese.

At school I was very shy and coincidentally inherited the title 'little miss worry guts,' and that was just among the staff. I learned early on that I could make people laugh, and as my small neat body betrayed me by growing to dizzying heights, I used it as a tool that translated into complete slap-stick comedy.

I'm bad at rationalisation - very bad.

It's not about hiding your imperfections on a shoot; it's about embracing them and being unapologetic about them.

There are great slender models, great tall models, Amazonian models, great busty models - my point is models of all shapes and sizes, age, ethnic background should be embraced and celebrated.