Did you feel an instant affinity?
Not after I got there. I had a total nervous breakdown. I hated everything. I was in a year of people who were really capable and older than me. I didn’t even know how to use a sewing machine, nor had I seen a pattern before. I hated it and still hate sitting at a sewing machine. But I got my shit together in the final year and pulled together a really good collection.

Why didn’t you go straight to the MA program after graduating?
I was just so sick of it. I wanted to get out into the world again. But it was almost impossible to get a job. I ended up working hard for no money. I was still a kid, too, and still had that energy to just go out all the time. That’s when I saw Kim Jones' graduate collection and I started working for him.

What was it that drew you to him?
He was the only men's designer in London at that time who had a following. He also worked with Nicola [Formichetti] and they were creating menswear images that no one had done before. The power of Kim and Nicola persuaded Topman to get behind London Fashion Week and sponsor MAN [men's group show]. It meant that there was somewhere to go in menswear.

How do you feel about the comparisons of your work to Kim's?
We were just on the same page at the time, using a lot of color and not interested in dramatic tailoring. I suppose it goes back to all the pop references that I was into as a kid. But we do have the same goal in mind, that we want clothes to have a broad appeal. In London it has become quite culty to celebrate designers who aren’t very accessible. Not to slate that, but I’ve always liked clothes that people wear. I feel uncomfortable whenever I'm tempted to design something more dramatic. A voice in my head says, What kind of knob would wear that?

Okay, let's talk about the dark moments.
Yeah, sitting on the dole back in my hometown and thinking, Fuck, what the hell am I going to do? I couldn’t get a job. I had no experience, just a book of interesting images. I went for a few really shocking interviews for shit money during the ten months I was there.

Is that why you actually did return to St Martins for your MA?
Well, not really. I knew my dole time was coming to an end and they were going to start making me work at Tesco. But I couldn’t afford to do the MA without a bursary or something. Then I went to see Louise [Wilson, MA Course Director] and she said, "Why the fuck don’t I know who you are?" And that was that. She offered me a place and I got a scholarship.

Did you find it easy to get back into design?
I knew the MA wasn’t some big shiny ticket to a job. I thought I would have to reinvent myself, but I just did what I was good at. I had spent time with Kim, Richard [Nicoll] and Jonathan [Saunders], so I knew that I really had to work hard.

Did you go back to the pop imagery that inspired you as a kid?
Yes, which was hard as I hadn’t looked at it in ages. I was worried that what I was doing was too simple, not a Fashion Week collection. Also, lots of people do sportswear, but I wanted to do sportswear with the finish of Louis Vuitton. It has to be a luxury product. I’m never going to sell in Sportsworld.

Are there any designers who you rate now?
I really like Bernhard Willhelm and Martin Margiela, because even if it looks intimidating, it's really accessible. I got really into Helmut Lang when I was at college. Those collections were really well thought-out, but without the excessive drama. You can also see in my collections that I like Moschino, skater clothing and a bit of ostentation. Apparently there was a time when Versace sold more in Liverpool than any other non-capital European city, so I was surrounded by that kind of ostentatious fashion growing up.