My first question is during the 1980’s, what made you base your style around Marilyn Monroe and the Queen?
Well I’ve always loved Marilyn Monroe; she’s always been my absolute icon. The queen is Vivienne’s, that’s the Vivienne thing cos she does the crown and the whole royal, that’s where the whole royal element of the look came in. But i always loved Marilyn, and I always loved to be blonde. Simply as that really, I had her on my bedroom wall when I was little.
I suppose she’s a big star in everybody’s eyes.
Yes, yes she is, huge, and it’s a huge look isn’t it, that blonde look. Yeah, love her. Still love her.
How do you think fashion or style icons of today compare to past icons?
I think that’s a really dangerous thing to try and quantify because, you know, everything’s got a gloss on it when you look back. I mean the sixties has all got such a gloss on it now; people like Audrey Hepburn, you just think no one is as fabulous as that. But maybe there is, you know maybe there is, when in future decades when we look back at this it’ll all seem… remember when, I mean you don’t remember cos you weren’t there but in the eighties everyone thought the fashion was shit and you know in the nineties everyone went oh god that was the most boring decade. And now it’s all coming back! And in the eighties I thought the seventies was the most embarrassing decade, and then in the nineties that had a bit of a revival; so I think it’s a little bit like that, I think, I think things are different in retrospect. But having said that, I suppose you must have points where there’s … I don’t know I’m gonna waffle, so I’m not gonna carry on with that question…
Oh, no waffle ahead!
Ok, I’m trying to think of… an obvious fashion icon now is Kate Moss isn’t it. I mean, if you think about it, she’s quite sixties-ish really, she could be any one of those sixties chicks, so in a way I’m trying to think of a more fashion icon now that’s really of now
The one that springs to mind for me personally is people like Alexa Chung.
Yes Alexa Chung. She’s very classy, she’s very classy, she’s got that real regal kind of… It’s like she’s just doing her own thing, it’s not like she’s really copying anything else. Yeah she’s good. You mean fashion icons as in people, public people that are deemed stylish. It’s not really something I really think about a lot to be honest…
The way I see it, it’s difficult to compare people that are such big icons like Marilyn Monroe, like Audrey Hepburn.
{About Marilyn Monroe} See I wouldn’t have her as a fashion icon; I would have had her as just an icon, well a sex icon, I suppose. Just an icon for everybody isn’t she. But then I suppose if you’re a person who likes fashion, that’s how you’re gonna see someone. Gosh, you’re asking me things I’ve never really thought about, it’s quite interesting!
What do you think defines a style icon?
I think it’s something as simple as if enough people pay attention to what they wear and go ‘ooh they’re stylish’, but then actually people seem to say that Lady Gaga’s a style icon, and I just don’t get that at all; I don’t think she’s a style icon, I think she’s a chancer, and she’s just going ‘ohh what shall I wear to get the most attention’, that’s all that’s about. And I think that’ll… she makes me a bit cross actually… that stupid fucking bacon dress, what the fucks that about, its not funny, its not clever, it doesn’t look nice, Christ what do you smell like… and just no, just no , love. And you know what I mean, that the opposite of style icon, I think that’s appalling. And if you’re going to make a statement, make a statement about something, you know, I’m not sure if she is making a statement. I don’t think she is making a statement, cos if you are making a statement it means you have some kind of ideology about something and you’re that pointing across but she’s not she’s just trying to get the most attention she can. My style icon is Sid Vicious actually, one of them, and that sounds preposterous, but if you look at the beautiful simplicity of his outfits… have you seen a film called ‘The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle’?
I’d like to say I have, but I haven’t!
There is this fantastic scene in it where he, it’s the Sex Pistols movie, and there’s a fantastic outfit he wears in it, it’s a white tux and he’s got black spiked up hair, and he’s got a white tux on and black skinny, skinny trousers, and a white ribbon tied round one thigh, and he just looks.. it’s the best outfit ever! I’m trying to think of now whose a style icon… it’s difficult.
Do you think the world needs fashion icons and why?
Ok. Does the world need fashion icons and why? To be honest I don't know if it NEEDS them... but I think fashion icons are like heroes in a way. They're for people to look up to and aspire to maybe... like movie stars. The fashion industry definitely needs them to provide a way of relating a look to the public, to sell clothes. I think the world would be poorer, on a cultural level, without them. I'm thinking of Twiggy - what would the 60's have been without her?
Also from New Look I bought this faux-leather satchel at £15 and this gorgeous floral scarf at £5.
