I am constantly trying to reflect the way women are treated. It's hard to interpret that in clothes or in a show but there's always an underlying, sinister side to women's sexuality in my work because of the way I have seen women treated in my life. Where I come from, a woman met a man, had babies, moved to Dagenham, two up two down, made the dinner, went to bed. That was my image of women and I didn't want that. I wanted to get that out of my head.

I find beauty in melancholy.

Fame should be left to the film stars.

When you see a woman wearing McQueen, there’s a certain hardness to the clothes that makes her look powerful. It kind of fends people off.

I think there is beauty in everything.

There has to be a balance between your mental satisfaction and the financial needs of your company.

I used flowers because they die. My mood was darkly romantic at the time.