I grew up in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. At the time I was growing up with my father - before it was gentrified - it was a very rough neighborhood. He felt that if I got into or started embracing the rap culture, I would be one step closer to being on the streets.

If you put the collections together, whether it's Rick Owens, Alexander Wang, or whomever, sometimes they do streetwear, but they're never called that. They're always called 'sportswear' or 'high-end' or 'luxury.' I feel like I'm tossed into that streetwear category so that I don't exist in this space.

Financing is always the hard part, especially if you don't have friends or family to back you, which was my case and the case for most designers.

I was going to college on a full scholarship. I graduated summa cum laude. I was always on the dean's list. I was never a kid that started any kind of trouble.

Pinterest has been helpful to my business. Making inspiration boards is really key to developing products. When I was getting married, I literally cut out tear sheets and put my own boards together. Had I known about Pinterest, I would have been able to do it so much more easily.

It's easy to give up, and that's the one thing we cannot do. That's what gives me a reason for working: to leave people with a little more courage, with a little hope that has been nourished. Even if, of course, it's going to disappear, whatever touches one isn't lost forever.

Accordingly the Northern races of Europe found their inspiration in the Bible; and the enthusiasm for it has not yet quite faded away.

I'd much rather leave £2bn to charity, or £3bn or £4bn, than £1bn. That is my motivation to carry on working as hard as I do."