I'm very lucky that I've worked mainly with two amazing photographers in David Sims and Steven Meisel.

I try to be aware of technology and Japanese animation and old Belgian paintings, and get all my references from bits of everywhere.

Someone might say that's a naïve way of looking at things now, and I would respect their opinion, but I also respect every woman's right to wearing her own individual style, including hair.

I was building my work, and it took me a long time. For a good five or six years I was just kind of bobbing around, doing everything and anything.

I didn't know I wanted to be a hairdresser. I was always interested in fashion and imagery in a very naive way, but it was always an attraction, like glitter balls. This was in the late '70s, early '80s, so it wasn't like today, where you kind of know all about the industry. Fashion was a very insider industry then - it was very closed. So I didn't really know what I wanted to do.

I haven't got a good reputation with pain.

I'm not saying that everything I do is always tasteful - and maybe it's not always the normal idea of beauty - but hopefully it's always an empowering idea.