Tell me about the new bag collection – have you always wanted to design them?
Personally, I’m not really a bag person; I don’t buy a lot of shoes or bags, but I don’t buy a lot of clothes either. I like my old stuff. However, I do find leather interesting, and it’s really nice to add suede to the textural landscape of a look.
All I think about is, what am I going to create texturally, with looks? We just shot our campaign in Sweden and it’s so textural – it’s everything the brand stands for.
I just love materials in all their forms: it might be soft, it might be noisy, it might be shiny or spongy or whatever, I love putting them together, so the bags are another opportunity to explore that.
It has been super inspirational to work with our bag designer and put these items together, and we’ve already added another four for the June market.
Each one echoes something we create in ready-to-wear in silhouettes: the Fortuna has a pleat at the front that is synonymous with our deep pleat pant, and the Shiboru is squishy with an arm hole detail.
It is all about creating shapes on the body, which is important – I don’t really feel like I’ve got all the right shapes together sometimes until I put a bag on my shoulder.
Fashion went through an obsession with minimalist fashion, and some see the pendulum as swinging in the other direction. What do you think?
I never think about that, honestly, because I just do what I like. We just make really well-fitting, beautiful clothes without any adornment, and I’ve been doing that for 28 years.
I’ll find esoteric classics, so I’ll study the trench, the pant; I see them as items you have to have in your wardrobe, but we ask how we can modernise them. Those items are classics, and I imagine if I were around in 200 years there’d still be the trench, the jean.
It is about refining classic, nostalgic pieces, so it’s not about minimalism for me – it’s about perfection.
Do you have a North Star you are always chasing?
I have an obsession with [1980s crime drama] Columbo, with [the eponymous lead character’s] shirt and trench and the colours that bounce between. It is something I look at all the time.
And then certain 90s movies, Michael Mann movies, I always look at the wardrobes – leather jackets I’m really obsessed with at the moment.
Movie-wise it’s broad, but specific. 1984 to 1999 is where I sit in movies – I’m not interested in anything old and anything beyond the noughties.
I also do not trust the algorithms – what they’re peddling to you. I’ll make my own decisions, thank you very much.
How do you build a brand around less is more, when the market is increasingly crowded with so-called minimalist brands?
If you asked me to start this brand now, I wouldn’t do it. But 15 years ago when I started it, there was nothing around; there was Céline or the high street, there was nothing in the middle at a decent price point.
My advice to anybody is just do not bother now. The market is just saturated.
What I’m saying is the experience I have is what will always set us apart, as I’m not mimicking The Row or Lemaire. It comes from my brain and my memories.
What are your plans for the brand in Asia, and Greater China in particular?
We’re going to open stores in China and will look for a JV [a joint venture] from next year. Retail is absolutely on fire for us – we have one store in London and will open a second this year.
We have three in South Korea, a flagship in Tokyo and we’re looking for a second in Japan. All those stores are up double digits, so retail is the future for us.
Wholesale is difficult and multi-brand stores and marketplaces are having a hard time. I also do not trust the algorithms – what they’re peddling to you. I’ll make my own decisions, thank you very much.
What are you reading right now?
I’m working my way through a book on the 80s in film, and the next one is the 90s. I’m also reading this book about architecture my friend bought me, called The Eyes of the Skin, and the history of Japan as well, which goes through every period.
What’s your no-brainer daily uniform?
I like clothes that stand away from the body, I don’t like things that are tight. So I’ve got some black jeans that I bought in Japan, some suede moccasins on and an old Margaret Howell shirt I’ve had for 25 years.
What’s your creative process, and what do you do to stay inspired?
Travel is one thing, and people-watching is my number one activity. There are movies obviously, but also books. There’s an interesting thought process around not looking at visuals. It can be more inspirational, as it allows you to dream and make things up in your head.
If anyone asks me what my hobbies are, I could say yoga but it’s a lie. I go to the airport a couple of hours early just to watch people.
I’m absolutely fascinated with the human race, and I get most of my ideas sitting in other cities, looking at people, asking to take photos of them.
I did it last week in Sweden: this guy looked so strange but so brilliant. He was like something out of the 80s; he had a pencil-thin moustache, leather jacket, white socks and moccasins.
He looked so sleazy, and I asked if I could take his photo, and he said no. But I got one anyway.