Alexander McQueen

“I never look at other people's work. My mind has to be completely focused on my own illusions.”

“I can design a collection in a day and I always do, cause I've always got a load of Italians on my back, moaning that it's late.”

“I was never a big networker, but I was a spin doctor, all those shock shows, that's how I got my first backers. But fashion's a scary industry to be in, especially if you've not grown up with it.”

“There has to be a balance between your mental satisfaction and the financial needs of your company.”

“Fame should be left to the film stars.”

“I think the idea of mixing luxury and mass-market fashion is very modern, very now - no one wears head-to-toe designer anymore.”

“I am married to work.”

“I'm not big on women looking naive.”

“There is something sinister, something quite biographical about what I do - but that part is for me. It's my personal business. I think there is a lot of romance, melancholy. There's a sadness to it, but there's romance in sadness. I suppose I am a very melancholy person.”

“For people who know McQueen, there is always an underlying message. It's usually only the intellectual ones who understand what's going on in what I do.”

“Nicey nicey just doesn't do it for me.”

“As a designer, you've always got to push yourself forward; you've always got to keep up with the trends or make your own trends. That's what I do.”

“I have been skiing since I was in school, but I'm not great. I am never going to break an Olympic record, I just want to go down the hills, on red or blue runs, but not... black.”

“I feel more Scottish than Norman.”

“I'm not interested in being liked.”

“Clothes and jewellery should be startling, individual. When you see a woman in my clothes, you want to know more about them. To me, that is what distinguishes good designers from bad designers.”

“I find it grotesque when clothes hit you in the face and there's no room for fault. But I don't expect to turn things around all by myself. I'm not a saint.”

“The turnover of fashion is just so quick and so throwaway, and I think that is a big part of the problem. There is no longevity.”

“Menswear is about subtlety. It's about good style and good taste.”

“Rap music's been around for too long now to be inspirational. The words are, but the music isn't.”