I was drawn to biology and history and, of course, art. And I loved languages. The biggest problem I had is that I wasn't taught about the connections between all these things. I think that would have given life a lot more meaning and it would be a lot more enjoyable.

Hussein Chalayan

Categorized in : Loved Art History Life

Technology is the only means through which you touch on new things.

Hussein Chalayan

technology mean

I think the experience of feeling isolated, of not fitting in, creates the urge to explore.

Hussein Chalayan

fitting feelings thinking

I have an interest in architecture, although more theoretically than anything else. I think architecture tries to understand what the body wants to occupy, not the body itself.

Hussein Chalayan

architecture trying thinking

My furniture is banal and my house is pretty empty. The hardest thing to find is a sofa that is comfortable and looks good. The ones I like are never comfortable.

Hussein Chalayan

empty house

I wish we could edit our lives, be more selective with whom we spend time and what we spend our money on. To appreciate more what we all have - we appreciate things more when we lose them.

Hussein Chalayan

spend-time appreciate wish

I wanted to be a pilot, but I was always drawing bodies. When I realised I wanted to pursue something creative, my parents pushed me towards architecture.

Hussein Chalayan

architecture parent creative

My interest in fashion came from my interest in the body as a central cultural figure, not from admiring other designers - but of course I love Mason Martin Margiela, and I love Sybilla.

Hussein Chalayan

admiring designer fashion

London scene consists of mostly foreigners. We see ourselves as British in many ways, but not English.

Hussein Chalayan

scene

Istanbul is one of the most incredible cities in the world, and a must - see as much as London, Paris, or New York. It's the past, present, and future, and a city where you never know what will happen from one minute to the next. It's also a melting pot of so many cultures from that region which is so often homogenized by the nation-state.

Hussein Chalayan

culture past world

It's not always important to do a "show," but a live element always works better for me, unless I am making a film that goes beyond the clothes.

Hussein Chalayan

film important

I came to London when I was a year and a half for four years. Since then I have been back and forth. I do mostly feel like a Londoner: I enjoy the Angle-Saxon acceptance of difference and I feel it's more of an integrated society than most places. But this is in London, not the rest of the UK.

Hussein Chalayan

integrated enjoy acceptance

Being a part of exhibitions is not a burden; it's another way for an independent label such as mine to reach a larger audience by exposing them to my whole body of work.

Hussein Chalayan

reach body work way

I was lucky I went to school in London because the tutors could see what to do. I knew I wanted to do something different. Why would I want to do what other people were already doing, because they would always do it better? I always wanted to work around the body. So throughout my college years, my work was quite free.

Hussein Chalayan

better work people school

I can be working on a collection and a film at the same time. It can take a lot out of me, but the processes come from the same source. From a brief I set myself I can make a film, I can make a collection, I can make an installation.

Hussein Chalayan

myself me i-can time

I am an idealist, which can be tiring.

Hussein Chalayan

tiring which i-am idealist

London gives birth to amazing talent but is rubbish at helping maintain it.

Hussein Chalayan

amazing birth talent london

If I had to define my philosophy, it would be about exploration, a journey, a story-telling.

Hussein Chalayan

about exploration journey philosophy

I think of fashion as an art form as well as an industrial product - and something that has to be sold well and has to be of high quality.

Hussein Chalayan

think quality fashion art