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DD: What do you think about the way the fashion media has reacted to you as a designer?
GP: Yeah, there are certain magazines who do things and certain magazines who don’t and I’m very aware of that and it really doesn’t bother me one little bit. And I don’t play the game at all. I’ve never been one of those people who tries to schmooze people to do things because it’s like people do things because they want to do them or because they like what I do. Kissing someone’s arse, which seems to be sort of a very slick smooth way that a lot of fashion designers do, but it’s not something that I’ve ever needed to do.
DD: How do you think your design aesthetic has changed over the seasons?
GP: Well it’s been a big change because progressively we’ve had more money to play with to make things and that’s always a big help, but it’s just something that happens. For me, I started off quite young and I’ve been showing for a while and I still think that I have a lot to learn and that I haven’t necessarily found exactly what I’m all about yet, so the whole idea with doing things is just trying to understand what it is that I want to do
DD: So you still consider yourself a "young one" then?
GP: Well, it doesn’t feel like it, but I don’t feel like I can put myself into any of the other brackets, I’m not like a Karl Lagerfeld am I? [laughs] It’s weird,I still do get referred to as "enfant terrible" but I don’t necessarily feel like I am, but then going to Paris is nice because it is like a new start and a lot of people probably don’t even know who I am.
DD: Do you get tired of the label "enfant terrible"?
GP: Well I’m not Jean Paul Gautier [laughs] so it’s kind of nice to move to Paris and so he can be the "enfant terrible" and then I can just be me [laughs] I don’t really understand that whole label.
DD: Do you expect to see everyone there though to support you?
GP: It was just very nice to be able to give a chance to show on the very first day because it's not an easy way out, but it is the first day and it’s very low key.
DD: So you wanted it to be low key then?
GP: Yeah, I don’t want fireworks and for it to be a big thing. It’s nice to show on the first day and not have to show against people like Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton and all these big names that do show in Paris and have done forever. I just didn’t want to do something that was very hyped up and to be fair the money that we have to play with is nothing compared to what we can spend in Paris
DD: Do you have a "Farewell London" speech?
GP: Last words? [laughs] I don’t know. I mean it’s sad to leave London because it’s obviously where I used to live and where I used to work and where all my friends are, but it’s nice to be able to challenge myself and show in Paris. I think it was a necessary step because I’ve reached a certain sort of glass ceiling in London and the fact that even though I’m doing stuff that I was happy with myself I would still be thought of and talked about as a club kid or this, that or the other. To take myself completely out of that and try and get away from all of that association, it’s kind of going to do me and it’s going to do my business a lot of good. London is amazing for new talent and there are really exciting things that are going on but I don’t think it’s ever going to be one of those places that can ever be a proper well-respected place where Anna Wintour comes every season. Everybody asks each season what’s the new thing, because people are so interested in the new thing, and they actually forget what to support, and what’s going on. Though I do think London is good as it is because it’s always been the sort of place where people need to come.
Watch out for the Gareth Pugh cover story shot by Nick Knight in the October issue of Dazed & Confused on sale September 11th.
