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.
I've always loved books.
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.
