I discovered lots of music; electronic synth bands from the mid-'80s like Depeche Mode, Soft Cell and Cabaret Voltaire. My friends and I used to take two-hour trips to the record store in Newcastle and we started buying copies of The Face and i-D. And then I went to art school and as time progressed, I ended up where I am now.

Giles Deacon

Categorized in : School Art Cabaret

In the end, we all are who we are, no matter how much we may appear to have changed.

Giles Deacon

changed

Testosterone is a great equalizer, it turns all men into morons.

Giles Deacon

moron men

The biggest challenge and the thing I find most enjoyable about being a designer is taking everything in and assimilating it for your perspective, hopefully making it relevant and interesting to people.

Giles Deacon

perspective people interesting

I like things that are well cut, things that are considered within their detailing. Fabrics that are very developed; specialist jacquards and prints. My clothes are statement pieces. They're decorative, but there's always a subversiveness or an othersidedness to them.

Giles Deacon

print cutting

I like using odd materials or odd components for embroideries. I've always liked that Elsa Schiaparelli world of playing with unusual objects to make something really beautiful. That's part of the game. We can do things that are lighthearted and playful but we also do things that are quite dark and sinister. I oscillate between the two.

Giles Deacon

dark beautiful world

I suppose the marine biology was a post-teen thing. I was kind of on my way but I was one of those teenage boys who got to 13, 14 and had no idea what I was going to do. I liked natural history. I liked the outdoors. And I found the sea quite interesting.

Giles Deacon

marine teenage boys

I've always drawn a lot. I like the idea of turning a 2-D sketch into a 3-D thing very quickly. And clothing is really good for that. You can draw an idea in the morning and you can see it by the end of the day. I think if it were something like a four-month process to get from the idea to the final thing, I would get quite bored.

Giles Deacon

bored morning thinking

My recent drawings that personal ones aren't fashion-related. I sometimes sit and draw people on the bus, or some fantasy hybrid animal. You know, wherever the hand will lead.

Giles Deacon

fantasy animal people

I don't ever think about being a straight man in fashion. It's fine from my perspective. There are a lot of straight men in fashion, believe it or not. But it's fine. Journalists seem to be really interested in it.

Giles Deacon

fashion men believe

Katie Grand often comes in from a very different angle than what I've been thinking about. And that really gives it that extra something, because designers can often get stuck in their own view of how the collection can look. I always love the way that she turns it into something else and I kind of let go at that point.

Giles Deacon

letting-go giving thinking

For me, green is more about cycling than recycling.

Giles Deacon

more me recycling green

A healthy body really does make for a healthy mind.

Giles Deacon

make healthy body mind

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.

Giles Deacon

you work success believe

It can be refugees, it can be a pregnant mother, it can be a 15-year-old... homelessness can happen to everybody.

Giles Deacon

refugees happen everybody mother

DAKS is a much more restrained silhouette, and there's a real emphasis on daywear, outerwear, and tailoring. It's more stripped-down.

Giles Deacon

silhouette more emphasis real

Anyone looking for a black cashmere sweater isn't going to come to me.

Giles Deacon

sweater looking me black

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

Giles Deacon

live you real world

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.

Giles Deacon

business mother father art

I do like designing clothes that are - not exactly lofty but intellectual in their sexiness.

Giles Deacon

like sexiness clothes intellectual

Due to the hectic, non-stop nature of my work, I'm always using my BlackBerry to stay in touch with my studio, wherever I am.

Giles Deacon

stay i-am nature work