Designer

I like to play with contrast. It's about changing people's perceptions of people.

A lot of my friends, we all grew up sort of not very wealthy. And in England, whatever ends up being a negative, that's a positive.

I didn't know anything about the fashion industry until I met the stylist Simon Foxton on a Tube. I was 16, on my way to Kingsway College, and then my whole world opened up. Before that, like in every African family, you are meant to be a lawyer.

I am definitely allergic to wheat. Every time I eat it, I feel awful.

The best photographers know how to light any color skin.

I grew up in west London, but my dad wouldn't let me go to school there, so I went in south London.

Social media is fine, depending on how you use it.

Being an immigrant and living in England, I feel like I lived in two worlds. There was the world that, when I was at school with my friends, was very English, and then I'd go home to another country, with exotic foods and colours. I have a sense of colour pairings, and that came from my background, I think.

I can't just go in and throw clothes at a picture. I still have to have some kind of an idea of a character, of who she is, where she's from. It's almost like playing a child's game. You have your dolls, and you create characters for them. Fashion indulged that in me.

My memories of London Fashion Week are of starting out and not getting many tickets for fashion shows, but wanting to see them so much that I'd sneak in with my friends, people like Pat McGrath and Craig McDean.

There's a lot of research and time that goes into my shoots. I spend weeks on them, even for one picture.

Prince was not scared. The first time I heard someone sing about AIDS, it was Prince: 'In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name.' He was not afraid of taboos.

I felt like I grew up with Bowie. I never dressed like him, even though I did love the music, but consistently throughout my career he has been a go-to reference point: The suit from 'Young Americans,' or the gold Missoni-type looks of Ziggy Stardust. 'The Berlin Years' still influences me.

Music, for me, is as important as fashion. The first visuals I remember are Elvis Presley, David Bowie, New Romantics, and different punk bands.

I get nervous before every shoot. I'm really jealous of the people that can just rest on their laurels and say, 'I'm good; this is it.'

With Rihanna, it's always a collaboration, and that's why I love her so much.

I don't think I'm in any way an icon, to be very honest.

I used to wear a lot of Helmut Lang. Painted jeans. Cropped crombies with t-shirts. A lot of V-necks. The perfect V-neck was very important.

Kurt Cobain really made an impression on us. He just had that rebel attitude. You could tell he was super talented but didn't really care.

Never forget that it sometimes takes a foreigner's eye to capture Britain most clearly.