PATRICK COX

Most of my holidays are with wonderfully generous friends with houses in the country or the South of France.

I think a house should reflect the interests and personality of the occupant, but it takes time to gather together the objects one likes around oneself.

I don't eat at home, ever.

Shoe design is like architecture - with the finest structure and tight, precise seams, it suits my obsessive neatness.

I was never a fashion snob.

I lived in Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon when I was very young, until my mother divorced my father.

Now, I'm older. I don't follow the vagaries of fashion: my look tends to be skinny flat-front trousers with a long-sleeve American Apparel T-shirt and a V-neck cashmere jumper - preferably Loro Piana.

The word 'modern' is a cliche.

After selling the business, and the Patrick Cox brand in 2007, I had a three-year non-compete, where I just spent a lot of time hanging all over the world on beaches and having fun.

By the time I came out of college, I was fabulous.

I was wondering if the best was behind me, had the high point of my career already happened. Then I saw what Manolo had done, and some of his best work happened after he turned 40.

I couldn't have asked for a better testimonial than Bob Dylan parting with his own cash for a pair of my shoes.

There is nothing worse than bright lighting - it isn't flattering and makes the glamorous women want to leave.

Archives can be inspiring but overwhelming. You have to forget them - especially when the whole world has been knocking them off. Everyone shops the same flea markets.

Do I miss shoes? I miss the designing, but I don't miss the fashion industry. Those people eat their children.

I have a pop sensibility, which I think comes from all those weekends spent in nightclubs.

My inspiration for interior design is more historical than traditional.

Copying is a form of self-validation.

I like to be playful; I want people to look at what I do and smile.

Elizabeth Hurley rocks. She really rocks.

I used to sock hop to 'Crocodile Rock' and stare at those platform boots on the album cover.

I love talking in lira because, suddenly, everything is in billions.

If you use your own name as your business brand, keep in mind that if you lose that brand, you have lost your name. And that is a bit of a problem going forward in life. If you decide to make up a name, and if you have lost that name, then who cares. But when it is your name on the products, and you lose it, that is the game changer.

In fashion, my inspiration comes from pop culture - the 1960s and the following years. Whereas in interior design, my influences are much broader.

It is all about quality of life and being proud of what I do. I need me to be me.