The first thing you notice when you meet Richard Quinn (32): he couldn’t have been less like an archetypal fashion designer. He’s not wearing silly glasses, wacky haircuts, or hysterical outfits. Quinn is an ordinary tree of a guy with a stubble and a big grin, dressed in ordinary common clothes. In appearance a life-sized Paddington Bear, with a simple cap instead of a red floppy hat. There is no indication that this man is a fashion comet, dressing stars like Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian. Which both Anna Wintour and Queen Elizabeth on the front row from his fashion show and made a name for himself with outrageous robes. How frenzied? In a nutshell: patent leather fetishwear paired with big shoulders and outlandish floral robes.
Quinn is the youngest of an English family of five children from the London borough of Eltham. At home, the curtains were traditional and lavishly floral, as were the tablecloths and furniture. Fashion highlights from his childhood were the two identical Bugs Bunny T-shirts his brother and he wore. ‘My mother loved it when everything matched,’ he says at a table in a noisy Italian restaurant in Bicester, Oxfordshire, ‘not just the curtains. She herself wore large shoulder pads and polka dot dresses. Just say the Diana look. I don’t like shopping. I shop in the first corner store. I try my hardest not to stand out and I’m the ultimate normcore†
It was more certain that Quinn would do something with prints than that he would design fashion. As a young boy he was always sketching, painting and drawing, or tinkering with play clay and Lego. His bachelor’s degree in Art & Design at the renowned Central Saint Martins academy in London was devoted to print design, his dream was to open a studio where other designers could print fabrics. When fashion designer Stella McCartney noticed him and later, deeply impressed, awarded him a scholarship to a master’s degree at Saint Martins, he found out that he also wanted to make clothes himself. He did an internship at the house Dior, when the Belgian Raf Simons was chief designer there. Not that he worked shoulder to shoulder with Simons. ‘Are you crazy’, says Quinn, ‘I was more the left tree from the school musical there. I assisted the sub-designer of the women’s collection. But I was amazed when pieces came from the archive and were unpacked with gloves on. Those fabrics and the silhouettes from the fifties and sixties… breathtaking.’
Quinn’s love for classic silhouettes is still evident in Quinn’s work, as is an outstanding technical skill, which he learned during a second apprenticeship with Richard James on London’s famed sartorial avenue, Savile Row. Then Quinn worked towards his graduation collection, inspired by the work of the American artist Paul Harris, who created life-size flowered, upholstered female figures. His talent stood out and in 2016 he was presented with the first Queen Elizabeth Award for emerging talent for his second collection, by the namesake herself. This was followed in 2017 by the H&M Design Award. Not long after, Quinn’s work appeared on the red carpet and in the leading fashion magazines.
Not that he turned his nose up at less glamorous jobs from then on, certainly not. Quinn was just as easy to prod for commercial partnerships. He worked with toothpaste brand Colgate, whiskey label Royal Salute, coat maker Moncler and Tommy Hilfiger. In every video of him on YouTube you can see the big Epson logo on the printer on which he prints his fabrics and anyone who wants to know will hear how good those printers are, how little water they waste and how you can print yourself. can prevent the build-up of surpluses – Quinn as the perfect PR guy.
And now a new project has allowed Quinn to open a temporary store in the Oxfordshire outlet town of Bicester Village with a number of other young designers. He owes the job to the British Fashion Council, which helps young design talent to flourish in business as well. Quinn not only signed for a small collection, which is sold alongside work by Roksanda, Mary Katrantzou and Tata Naka, among others, he was also allowed to brighten up the interior. Literally, because he had the walls, the facade and the car in front of the door covered with prints of gigantic daisies.
Where other designers withhold or avoid commercial activities like the plague for fear of losing their credibility, Quinn embraces them wholeheartedly. “Sales are what makes designers relevant,” he says. ‘Through these collaborations you come to the attention of different people. I think carefully about who I am going to do business with. The whiskey brand I work with is super exclusive. And as for Bicester Village, people come for the big international brands and have never heard of me. By being able to set up a pop-up here, they get to know my work.’
Collaborations like this also provide valuable hands-on lessons that Quinn didn’t learn at Saint Martins, he says. ‘The training is purely creative. The British Fashion Council taught me a lot after graduating about when to sell, what the best seasoning is, how to set the right price, which pieces are commercial. The council will guide you through the first steps and act as a kind of sounding board. They teach you everything about copyright and patents and connect you to the right people who can help you.’
Add to that Quinn is a Sunday kid. Some collaborations – such as the one with Moncler – have come about completely by chance. But maybe it’s also because the hyper-talented and cheerful Quinn has such an obvious handwriting, and a big gun factor. ‘I just tend to move towards nice people. If I have to give other young designers a tip, it’s: find the balance between being really nice and being very smart. It’s hard to do everything yourself and get your clothes off on time, so you need to be both creative and business-like. Above all, work very hard, be really dedicated to your profession.’
What’s next for Quinn? Making bridal wear, because it sells well, he knows through a collaboration with online boutique Matches. And in September there will be another collab in the pipeline, which is currently a secret. Qua celebrity dressing he hardly has any wishes, because: ‘I’ve actually had them all, including Kim Kardashian. But all Kardashians at once, that would be a nice challenge.’
Best kept secret
In Bicester Village, an hour by train from London, you will find outlet stores of just about all top fashion brands. A well-kept secret, because brands that have a shop (from Armani to Valentino) prefer not to shout from the rooftops that you can buy the collections from past seasons with a big discount. Until June 15, Richard Quinn’s special new collection is on sale in the pop-up store he designed.