The fashion industry thrives on heritage and pedigree. There are systems in play to ensure fashion’s unspoken rules are nurtured and followed by all players.

I come from a different background. I had a multicultural upbringing, left home for university at nineteen, and traveled, lived and worked all around the world. I was on my own and I never felt I belonged anywhere, and yet I can feel at home everywhere. I find my people through my passions. People don’t need to look like me or think like me for us to share a thread between our hearts and values.

I’m not impressed by legacy; especially if someone did not create it themselves. History and pedigree don’t hold much value for me if I can’t see what you are contributing in the present. I am more inspired by stories of people who have been in the arena and are still in the arena.

What drives me is a singular obsession with pursuing my own path. I never accept limits, especially ones that others impose.

There’s a thread in the stories I’ve shared so far. In my mind, they are the journeys of one man at different moments of his life.

At the start of a new campaign the story is raw and instinctual. That first draft becomes my anchor and I go back to it as the story develops.

All of this creative work is completed before we arrive on set so when I’m there I can purely focus on capturing the emotions.

Creation, for me, begins in the arena, a place where you choose to show up fully, not knowing the outcome. To create something original, you have to be willing to feel discomfort. The more constraints I face, the more clarity I find. That tension sharpens my instinct.

I keep returning to the arena. It’s where I design from, and it’s where the man I design for stands: present, tested, evolving.